Sun, the crabbers of Maryland are not happy with this direction as it might force some watermen out of the business. The Department of Natural Resources issued new regulations in March 2009, for daily bushel limits for mature female hard crabs and periods of closure for harvest of mature female hard crabs. Mature female hard crab bushel limits were assigned based on license type. The regulation further provided the DNR with the authority to establish and modify a season or catch limit by public notice based on continuous monitoring of stock conditions and harvest rates. The Department withdrew the portion of the 2009 regulatory proposal that would have required a free registration for crabbers not currently required to have a license. Points of interest Off the shores of Upper and Middle Hoopers Island is the Hooper's Island Lighthouse. This lighthouse was built in 1906 and is only one of eleven pneumatic caisson lighthouses in the United States. For over ten years, the Phillips Seafood Factory has been open to visitors. It is at this factory that blue crabs are processed. Phillips Seafood is a company that owns and operates seafood restaurants throughout the east coast. The company origins go back to 1914 on the island, where Augustus E. Phillips established what is now Phillips Seafoods' first seafood processing plant. Interesting facts During the 18th century, piracy was rampant in the Chesapeake Bay. As boats, filled with supplies, were headed towards the top of the Bay, they were attacked by pirates who had been hiding in the many tributaries. Lord Dunmore, one of the more infamous pirates, created such mayhem that in 1780, Henry Hooper IV asked the governor of Maryland for assistance to stop the plundering. An area near the islands, Meekins Neck, is the site of the first Catholic church in Dorchester County. St. Mary Star of the Sea was built in 1769. From the mid-1880s until 1929, there was a steamboat service that went up to Baltimore. The boat left Hoopersville in the late afternoon and arrived in Baltimore at 3:30 am. References External links United States Lighthouse Society, Chesapeake Chapter The Old Hoopers Island Graveyard Dorchester County Tourism Sawyer Tours and Cruises, Hooper's Island, MD The Historical Marker Database Old Salty's Restaurant Chesapeake Bay Foundation Phillips Foods: The Legend of Phillips www.hiexped.com Hoopers Island Expeditions Maryland islands of the Chesapeake Bay Fishing communities in Maryland Landforms of