Virginia is expected to put more restrictions on blue crab harvests, but the state may provide state jobs to watermen hit hardest by the new limits.

Officials said Monday the idea is aimed primarily at watermen on Tangier Island, which depends heavily on the harvest of blue crabs from Chesapeake Bay waters.

State-sponsored work might include building and replenishing the bay's depleted oyster reefs or planting sea grass beds.

Secretary of Natural Resources Preston Bryant Jr. acknowledges that legal or budgetary problems could block the plan, but he said Monday the state has "a responsibility to those hurt" by the regulations.

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission will vote Tuesday on measures that would drastically limit the time that Tangier watermen and other crabbers could spend on the water.

Commission staff is recommending closing the entire winter crab-dredging season and ending the crab-potting season one month early. It currently goes from March 17 to November 30.