Horseshoe crab license plates support healthy bays and rivers

Few things are more iconic Delaware symbols than specialty license plates and horseshoe crabs.

Delawareans can embrace their First State heritage and support a good environmental cause by purchasing a license plate featuring the state’s very own living fossil.

The new environmental license plate featuring a coastal scene and Limulus polyphemus, better known as the American horseshoe crab, is now available to purchase through the Delaware Department of Transportation’s Division of Motor Vehicles online or in person at DMV locations throughout the state.

The plates are $50, a one-time fee, and make for an affordable holiday gift that keeps on giving as 70 percent of the proceeds directly support the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays and the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary. Both organizations conduct scientific research and surveys in the Delaware Bay and the Delaware Inland Bays, critical habitats for horseshoe crabs and the shorebirds that rely on their eggs each spring.

Delaware is fortunate to be the home of two National Estuary Programs that are both nonprofit organizations: The Center for the Inland Bays based in Rehoboth Beach, and the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary with headquarters in Wilmington.

Across the country, there are 28 NEPs designed to protect and restore the water quality and ecological integrity of estuaries of national significance.

The lighthouse license plate, which also benefits the CIB and PDE, is still available for purchase as well.

For more information about purchasing a specialty plate, go to dmv.de.gov.