|
July 2, 2001 SENATOR MIKULSKI PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR CRAB WORK | BALTIMORE, Md.-U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD) announced today at the Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB) that she will seek $2 million in funds for a federal, state and private sector research effort to help reverse an steady decline in the blue crab population of the Chesapeake Bay. The Senator said the $2 million in federal funds would be applied to scientific research being conducted at COMB on the basic biology, reproduction and hatcheries of the blue crab. COMB is one of five research centers of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI). "We're here to save a Maryland way of life, declared Senator Mikulski at a news conference held at a Baltimore harbor pier next to COMB in the Columbus Center. "We're all worried about the declining crab population. We're worried, but we're not wimpy. That is why we're here to really fight to save jobs, to save the Bay, and to save our way of life." The Senator extolled the "fantastic partnership" working to solve the problem through UMBI research into crab biology, life cycle and habitat, and headed by COMB Director Yonathan Zohar. | 
Dr. Yonathan Zohar shows Senator Barbara Mikulski the crab research as Dr. Moti Harel, leader of the COMB crab research program, looks on. | Jennie Hunter-Cevera, UMBI president noted that the crab research also has the support the State of Maryland, the Maryland Watermen's Association, Phillips Food and Seafood Restaurants, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md. and the Bribie Island Aquaculture Research Center (BIARC) in Queensland, Australia. Hunter-Cevera said the University of Southern Mississippi is joining the program, including an effort to identify DNA markers that will allow scientists to monitor crabs in the wild. "Senator Mikulski has the reputation for finding solutions for constituent problems that effect one or 100 Marylanders. It is not a surprise then that she is leading the effort to restore the Blue crab population in the Chesapeake Bay at the Federal level." The Senator pointed out that as the nation heads into the Forth of July holiday and people think about picnicking and serving steamed crabs, the cost of crabs in Maryland is skyrocketing. They are in short supply. Annual harvests have fallen from about 100 million pounds a generation ago to about 60 million pounds last year. "While there is no quick way to increase the crab population, two things are clear: we need to know why we have so few crabs and how we can produce more," she declared. "We need to know more about where the crabs are and how often they're mating," said Mikulski. "This $2 million will buy the best research and tap into the know how of our watermen. I'm proud to work alongside these incredible scientists and watermen to save our Maryland way of life, our crabs, and our Bay." The Senator said she wants to ensure that future generations will enjoy the unique experience of eating hard-shell crabs on a summer day. Mikulski is a member of the Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary Appropriations Subcommittee. # # # The University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute was mandated by the state of Maryland legislature in 1985 as "a new paradigm of state economic development in biotech-related sciences." With five major research and education centers across Maryland, UMBI is dedicated to advancing the frontiers of biotechnology. The centers are the Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology in Rockville; Center for Agricultural Biotechnology in College Park; and Center of Marine Biotechnology, Medical Biotechnology Center, and the Institute of Human Virology, all in Baltimore.
|
