Closing ‘Vacationland’ to Green Crabs: Research, Monitoring, and Collaborative Research at the Wells Reserve
Join Research Director Jason Goldstein to learn about the Reserve's research on the invasive green crab!
Reservations
Required
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Location
Online
This event is handicap accessible
Concerns from fishers and shellfish farmers are growing over historical and recent impacts of invasive green crabs (Carcinas maenas) in coastal and estuarine systems. In Maine, green crabs feed on economically important bivalve species and compete with other native crustacean species, reducing overall ecosystem stability. Challenges in expanding these activities are an inability to identify and adequately target soft-shelled crabs coupled with a lack of knowledge of where and when molting crabs aggregate to maximize a large and consistent supply of soft-shelled crab product.
The Reserve is currently engaged in complementary approaches, including the determination of molt stage and timing, traditional trapping, acoustic telemetry, and eDNA as tools to evaluate and learn more about the ecological interactions of green crabs in our estuaries. Collectively, our efforts may allow harvesters the potential to access an underutilized species and help to inform management and mitigation of this invasive species in vulnerable estuarine and coastal ecosystems. Join Research Director Jason Goldstein for this Meet the Scientist program to learn more!