A commercial crabber in Virginia holds a block of OrganoBait synthetic bait.
Lee Robertson, a research assistant for Kepley Biosystems, loads an OrganoBait synthetic bait block into a crab pot. The lobster and crab fisheries have grappled with a shortage of bait, and synthetic bait may help them.
Commercial crabber Mal Luebkert pulls a crab pot out of the Great Wicomico River in Heathsville, Va.
Blue crabs come out of the Great Wicomico River in Heathsville, Va., with a block of OrganoBait in the bait trap of the crab pot.
Commercial crabber Mal Luebkert, left, displays a crab caught with OrganoBait in the Great Wicomico River in Heathsville, Va., posing with Kepley Biosystems President Anthony Dellinger, left, research assistant Lee Robertson, second from right, and owner Chris Kepley, second from left.
A blue crab hauled out of the Great Wicomico River sits on the deck between two blocks OrganoBait synthetic bait. Organobait is a calcium-based tablet made with synthetic materials that replicate the smell of decaying fish to attract lobsters and crabs.
Business 
