The Maritime Environmental Resource Center at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science will receive $5 million in state and federal funds over five years to target the more than 150 exotic species that have arrived in the bay. Some of the invasive species have overwhelmed native species, The Baltimore Sun reported. Many of the exotic species were inadvertently introduced to Chesapeake Bay in ship ballast tanks.

The MERC, which will have up to five full-time employees, will test strategies such as filters, chemicals and ultraviolet lights to determine how effective they are at killing the invasive species, the newspaper said.