if you live in maryland, you ve heard about blue crabs, a chesapeake bay icon. but scuttling along the salty shorelines of maryland s ocean beaches and coastal bays are as many as 35 other kinds of crabs you re unlikely to meet in a crabcake. jim casey was fisheries biologist for 37 years with the department of natural resources fisheries service. he emerged from retirement just to help find some of these crustaceans beyond blue - from tidal marsh to ocean surf. jim casey: with the type of habitat that we have, there are many, many more crabs than just blue crabs. many of them which come in seasonally, others which are brought in by storms, but we can have as many as 35 different species in the coastal bays. narrator: maryland s coastal bays lay behind assateague island and ocean city. there s a reason these waters are so rich in marine life. the bays were filled with sea water when the inlet at ocean city was carved out by a major hurricane in 1933. casey: we re right
woman: we do want to help kids create bonds with the natural world, not just because we want them to grow up and become stewards of the environment, but also for their own benefits. peyton taylor, md conserv. corps & interpretation: .because there s a growing body of research that tells us that when kids have an opportunity to interact, especially in unstructured play in an outdoor environment, there s a whole host of benefits that come to them, in terms of their cognitive skills, academic abilities, their physical health and well-being, their mental health and well-being, their ability to solve problems, to resolve conflict, their ability to think creatively. so we put them out here, interacting with the natural world. and it s not always a really predictable environment, and that s what helps train your brain to solve problems and think on your feet. narrator: small teams rotate through a series of projects. woman: for the rest of this week we are creating stream buff