An easy recipe: Drink beer, help Chesapeake crabs

Those who find themselves cooling down and kicking back this summer with a can of National Bohemian also have a chance to help one of Delmarva’s most iconic critters: blue crabs.

For the second year, the Baltimore-based beer company is running its Tabs for Crabs campaign, which raises funds for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s efforts to study and restore habitat for blue crabs.

Beer-drinkers (of legal age, of course) in Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, D.C., can collect and mail the red, crab-etched can tabs on 12-ounce and 16-ounce National Bohemian beer cans.

Tabs For Crabs | National Bohemian

“Given the importance of a healthy Chesapeake Bay to our environment and regional economy, we are grateful that National Bohemian has stepped up as a leader in the community,” Taryn Dwan of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said in a press release. “Partnerships such as this allow us to promote our common mission and work to engage new audiences in the fight to save the bay.”

Each tab returned to the company translates to a 10-cent donation to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, an independent conservation organization focused on clean-up and restoration efforts in the Chesapeake Bay. The company hopes to raise at least $10,000 this year.

This is the second year for the partnership between the 133-year-old beer manufacturer and the 51-year-old conservation group. Last year, 85,000 tabs were turned in, and the company donated $10,000 to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

“The response we received from the 2017 inaugural Tabs for Crabs program was truly a testament to the importance of our bay lifestyle,” C-Mo Molloy, National Bohemian brand manager and Baltimore native, said in a press release.

A multi-state effort to reduce pollution entering the Chesapeake Bay also has been making strides. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced in late July that efforts in Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. – states within the bay’s watershed – have led to the most underwater grasses and best water quality seen in the Chesapeake Bay in the last three decades.

Those states are half-way through a 15-year effort to reduce pollution, which largely comes from runoff generated in the 64,000-square-mile watershed.

Tabs will be accepted through Oct. 1 and can be mailed or dropped off at National Bohemian Tabs for Crabs, 3600 O’Donnell St., Suite 185, Baltimore, MD 21122. For more, go to NationalBohemian.com.

Contact reporter Maddy Lauria at (302) 345-0608, mlauria@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @MaddyinMilford.

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