If the News Is Bad, Sell the Need

If the news is good, sell the news.

An article about how "they" message the progress, or lack of progress, on the Chesapeake Bay
Saving the message: Bay restoration effort has difficult public relations task

The campaign to “save the bay” has two levels.

First, is actually improving the quality of water and animal life in the bay, a scientifically difficult task with a myriad of challenges.

But, in some ways, the tougher challenge is getting and maintaining public support for the effort, made all the more difficult by a process of slow results, false starts — and those complicated agency names.

An example of how it works using crabs, which have notoriously wide population swings:

An annual winter dredge survey conducted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources has for years determined the annual status of blue crab population in the Bay.

In 2011 and 2012, O’Malley held press conferences to announce the numbers at Mike’s Crab House in Riva. Stephanie Palla, a spokeswoman for O’Malley, said the governor’s office’s “management framework is based on protecting adult female crabs.”

The blue crab survey showed in 2010-11 a drop in spawning-age females from 251 to 190 million. The numbers declined again in 2011-12 from 190 to 97 million. But O’Malley made little mention of female crabs to audiences at Mike’s Crab House, according to transcripts of his speeches. In 2011, the governor touted the second-highest blue crab population since 1997, even though population had decreased from the year before.

In 2012, the blue crab population had gone up, according to the survey. O’Malley was reporting progress again, announcing the blue crab population was at its highest level in 19 years.

O’Malley did not mention the reported female numbers in 2011. His only mention of female numbers in 2012 was this: “We have seen a drop in spawning-age females from last year, but overall, our female population remains above the safe threshold level (of 70 million).” A press release from DNR in 2012 tucked in a note about female numbers, allowing DNR Secretary John Griffin to explain “one cautionary note.”

The 2012-13 survey results, released earlier this year, showed spawning-age females spiked for the first time in three years, from 97 to 147 million. The blue crab population, on the other hand, declined from 764 to 300 million.

Griffin led a press conference at the Tawes State Office Building in Annapolis. O’Malley was not in attendance. Palla said O’Malley had “spoken many times about the progress we are seeing with rebounding crab numbers.”

Palla said while the Bay’s blue crab population varies naturally, weather conditions, increase in predators or other natural occurrences can affect the stock. She then noted the spike in females. “The number of spawning-age females increased substantially last year — by 52 percent − indicating that the current management framework is working,” Palla said in an email.

Majerus, who led bay efforts for Schaefer’s administration, said “Because (crab population data) goes up and down, you kind of always want to bring the good news because it’s a little discouraging. It can’t be good news all the time,” Majerus said. “But if people don’t see things progressing — well then, what’s the point? But if you look at it long term, there is a point.”