Green crabs are moving north into Maritime waters, gobbling up prey directly in their path. While the invasive species is here to stay, scientists say the big problem is figuring out how to control their numbers.
“Our concern here is that they’re moving in here and we’d like to do some sort of remediation to reduce their numbers so we slow down the northerly migration,” says Jim Weldon, manager of the Shediac Bay Watershed Association in New Brunswick.
The aggressive species arrived from Europe 200 years ago and has been making its way up the Eastern Seaboard. Weldon says now that the green crab has arrived in the Maritime region, it’s here for good, and it will be a challenge to control its numbers.
“We need some sort of funding set up where a fisher, whether it be a licensed fishery or a nuisance fishery, would have the ability to go out and catch as many as he can,” says Weldon.
Once caught, there are many potential uses for a green crab, such as fish food, bait, or even as an additive to things like pet food.
Weldon says the crabs’ numbers are manageable for now, but the species could devastate the fishery if their numbers get out of hand.
Biologists with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans have been concerned about the crabs’ northerly migration for years, and the affect on its meal of choice, the softshell clam.
“The green crab is known to have a major impact on softshell clam population,” says research biologist Thomas Landry. “Up to 80 per cent of the clams can be destroyed.”
A female green crab can lay 185,000 eggs in a year, and without a major predator in the area, it is free to roam where it wants.
“It’s a species that is quite capable of hiding and establishing,” explains Landry.
Researchers at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans are currently conducting a study to understand the effects of the green crab on all species.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Jonathan MacInnis
