I will never forget talking to the late (and great) Larry Simns about Chesapeake Bay fisheries. Larry, an NF Highliner and longtime president of the Maryland Watermen’s Association, was one of the first old-timers to talk to me in detail about the health of the estuaries and bays being critical to the future of many fisheries. As Larry explained it, small-scale fishermen were the original environmentalists.

I’m not sure how he would feel about the bay’s D+ grading from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The report released this week acknowledges that the bay’s health is improving, but says that farmland and urban runoff are still hampering restoration efforts. Larry was a leader in the mission to clean up the bay. He knew the future of bay and its harvesters depended on water pure enough to breed temperamental oysters and blue crabs.

And for that reason, I am sure Mr. Simns would be proud of the next generation of commercial fishermen taking to the bay to fulfill a dream of independence on and off the water. Writer and photographer Jay Fleming’s feature story in our February issue highlights the working lives of Annapolis-based crab fishermen Nick Crook (skipper/owner), 27, and his deckboss Ben Byers, 24.

These young upstarts leave the dock at the end of a long fishing day and hop in a truck to carry their product directly to restaurants and consumers. In their spare time, they’re marketing and making connections with new retail outlets.

Maybe the extra-long hours and legwork is what makes it a young man’s game. But whatever it is, these baymen are carrying on a long tradition of planting the seeds for the next generation, just as Larry and his contemporaries did for them.