The sinking economy has thrown another variable into the annual summer equation that determines what Marylanders pay for the time-honored tradition of crabs and beer.

Already, worries about the health of the Chesapeake Bay's blue crab population have led to harvest restrictions that have pinched watermen. Now there are mixed reports about whether the economy is keeping diners home instead of at crab shacks and crab houses.

"You've got a certain amount of fear and people (closely) scrutinizing … purchasing decisions," said Douglas Lipton, a University of Maryland assistant professor who specializes in...