A recent report detailed a 50 percent drop in juvenile Chesapeake blue crabs since 2010. Then, a survey found a surprising surge in the young crustaceans this year A female blue crab with an acoustic telemetry tag on its shell. Scientists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center use telemetry tags to track the migration of blue crabs throughout the Chesapeake. SERC Fisheries Conservation Lab Life isn’t exactly easy for a young blue crab in the Chesapeake Bay. For one, the crustaceans must dodge predators—they have to avoid invasive blue catfish and even thwart  cannibalism by their elders . But these threats alone can’t explain a long-term drop in population that the crabs have seen over the past decade and a half. According to a recent 282-page draft report , the bay’s juvenile blue crabs declined by 50 percent from 2010 to 2023—and the reason is eluding scientists.…