THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 

                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 20, 1994                    TAG: 9406160007 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A6    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Short 
DATELINE: 940620                                 LENGTH:

RETURN BUSTED SOOKS TO THE CHESAPEAKE BAY

{LEAD} Regarding ``Save the Bay - and the blue crab'' (letter, May 29): My husband and I crab pot. I see firsthand the rapid decline of the blue crab in the Chesapeake Bay.

We return all female crabs with eggs to the Bay, as each busted sook, as they are referred to, represents 1 million crabs. We are among the very few crabbers who do this, and this is one of the main reasons why the blue crab is disappearing.

A law needs to be passed that prohibits the catching and selling of busted sooks, because if something is not done real soon, the Chesapeake Bay blue crab will be extinct.

BETTY LEE BONNIWELL

Painter, June 7, 1994 by CNB