[To bad we humans cant save the crabs and then not eat
them. Rick.]
Appetizing Ads Aim to Serve, Protect Crabs
Sun Mar 27, 7:55 AM ET
Add to My Yahoo! Top Stories - Los Angeles Times
By Justin Dickerson Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON � The latest public education campaign from
the Chesapeake Bay Program promotes awareness of the
need to save the bay's famous blue crabs � in order to
eat them.
One television ad begins with water running down a
storm drain as a narrator warns that spring rains can
carry excess fertilizer into sewers and rivers to the
bay, causing crabs to "suffocate slowly from lack of
oxygen."
Then a crab fills the screen, lying still as waves
wash over it. "No crab should die like this," the
announcer says.
"They should perish in some hot, tasty, melted
butter," he continues, dipping a morsel of crabmeat
into a bowl and eating it.
The television spots, billboards and print ads,
targeting the taste buds of diners throughout the
Washington area, began this month and will run until
mid-April. Each ad in the $620,000 campaign � which
encourages, for the sake of the crustaceans, waiting
until fall to fertilize lawns � emphasizes the bay's
primary role as the source of seafood for the region.
The crabs' mating season is from May to October.
With the slogan "Save the Crabs � Then Eat 'Em," the
campaign packs an unexpected punch from an
organization whose typical news releases are about
cleanups or dam removals.
"The bay really begins in our backyards, and that's
why we're trying to reach people on their home turfs,"
said Christopher Conner, a spokesman for the
Chesapeake Bay Program, which is part of the
Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites).
"For many people in Washington, the only time they get
to experience the bay is when they sit down at a
restaurant. We want them to realize that what they're
having comes from Chesapeake Bay," he said.
Recent blue crab harvests are well below the long-term
average of 73 million pounds a year, according to the
Chesapeake Bay Program � in part because the crab's
habitat is being destroyed by the chemicals in
fertilizers. In 2003, the program's statistics
indicate, the harvest declined to about 48 million
pounds, close to a historic low.
Judy Landers, who is managing the Chesapeake education
campaign, says it isn't a "hug-a-tree, save-a-whale"
environmental promotion.
"Our campaign emphasizes that [local residents] can
have healthy, attractive lawns while helping to
protect the bay and its wonderful seafood," Landers
said.
"And we're giving them a good excuse to procrastinate"
on some yard work, she added.
As a solution for those who insist on fertilizing
their lawns this spring, the program offers a list of
lawn service professionals who have the equipment and
training to care for lawns the bay-friendly way.
Chris Forth, regional technical manager for TruGreen
ChemLawn, said his company strictly limited the
amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus in its fertilizer.
When the fertilizer is applied, he said, his employees
make sure it is well-absorbed into the lawn so there
is no runoff that will end up in the streams and
rivers that empty into the bay.
Excess amounts of nutrients such as nitrogen and
phosphorus contribute to the loss of the blue crab's
habitat by stimulating the overgrowth of algae and
other plant life. That blocks sunlight from reaching
the underwater grasses that provide crabs with
shelter, food and nesting areas.
Too much algae also reduces the levels of dissolved
oxygen in the deeper waters of the bay, forcing crabs
from their preferred habitats and killing smaller
organisms on which the crabs feed.
Wayne Bridges, manager of the Crab Claw restaurant in
St. Michaels, Md., on the Eastern Shore of the
Chesapeake, is grateful that the public is taking an
interest in helping the bay � and in eating the
region's sweet-tasting crab.
"It's just an ongoing problem, and it's good to see
that somebody's taking a little action," he said.
Conner said his organization found in a recent survey
that although 90% of people living in the Chesapeake
Bay watershed area were concerned about pollution in
the bay, few knew they could make a difference.
The Chesapeake Bay Program has been trying for 20
years to move the public to action and hopes that
humorous ads � one notes that "no appetizers were
injured in the making of this lawn" � and partnerships
with restaurants will stir more than the consumer's
stomach.
"It's a lighter approach to a serious issue," Conner
said. "It's about getting people engaged, reaching
them through their seafood."
Not everyone is a fan of the ads.
Karin Robertson, head of the Fish Empathy Project for
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in
Norfolk, Va., said that although promoting awareness
about pollutants in the Chesapeake Bay was a worthy
cause, promoting the consumption of fish was wrong �
not only because of animal cruelty issues, but because
of contaminants, such as mercury and lead, in aquatic
life.
"It's simply not safe for people to consume fish," she
said.
Gary Waugh, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of
Conservation and Recreation, said one purpose of the
ads was to get more people involved in the restoration
of the bay.
"We've been trying to pull together some campaign that
reaches those folks, but when you start talking to
people about algae blooms, you kind of just see their
eyes glaze over," he said.
Despite a warm reception to the campaign, Waugh isn't
expecting a complete change in behavior. But he is
optimistic.
"This needs to be something that can be ongoing," he
said. "We're hoping to see some change that will
warrant us trying to move forward with this."
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