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One-third of Virginia's watermen have offered to sell their licenses back to the state under a buyback program intended to ease pressure on the Chesapeake Bay crab.

The bids, however, far exceed the $6.7 million in federal disaster aid bankrolling the buyback, meaning only a fraction of the watermen who bid will likely be leaving the water.

The 665 bids received by a Nov. 1 deadline totaled $30.4 million, ranging from a low of $500 to a high of $665,000, which was submitted by a part-time waterman. Virginia has about 1,800 licensed watermen, most of whom are part time. Many others rarely go out on the water.

Maryland did this last month. DNR reported more than 530 Maryland commercial crabbers sold their licenses back to the state. Maryland plans to freeze or restrict the permits of nearly 2,000 other "inactive" crabbers who didn't report catching anything last year.

My neighbors are watermen. I wonder how many took advantage of the buyout and if they thought the terms were worth it.