Declare War on “The Dreaded Green Crab”

Ruth Higgins and her husband and collaborator/photographer, Al Krause, live and work in Birch Bay, having recently moved there from San Francisco.

Gellett Burgess once wrote –

I never saw a purple cow

I never hope to see one

But I can tell you anyhow

I’d rather see than be one.

I’ve never seen a green crab, and never hope to see one. You better hope so, too. Why should you care about them? They are a nonnative species of crab from Europe that prey on clams, oysters, mussels and smaller crabs—all the delicacies gracing your seafood platter.

An army of them struck the East Coast of the United States in the early 19th century, marching up the coast to invade Canada. They sent sleeper cells to the West Coast in the 1989, where platoons camped in San Francisco, Bodega and Humboldt Bays of California; Tillamook, Winchester, Coos and Yaquina Bays of Oregon; Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor, Washington; and Nootka Sound, British Columbia. They have Puget Sound surrounded.

How did they get here? Experts believe their larvae traveled in ballast water of ships or packing material of seafood shipments. The northward migration on the West Coast was aided by the El Nino currents, which are anticipated to occur again this year or next. It could happen again.

What can you do to prevent their further incursion? Volunteer to monitor for early identification of the green crab terrorists’ advance scouts. This is primarily accomplished by setting baited crayfish traps in areas with high potential for invasion and/or in habitats with characteristics favored by European green crab in the Northwest. It is a simple process for volunteers:

• You attend a brief orientation class on the history of the invasion and learn how to identify different crab species.

• You place a few light-weight traps, baited with some succulent tidbit such as seafood-flavored cat food supplied by your sponsoring organization. You space them out in your designated area once a month during low tide and retrieve them during the following day’s low tide.

• You note the contents of your traps on the official observation forms and submit them in provided stamped envelopes.

• Should you suspect you’ve captured a green crab, you put it in a plastic bag, freeze it and notify your sponsor. Someone who knows much more about these creatures will examine your catch to determine if it is truly a green crab or not.

To participate, contact Nahkeeta Northwest at P.O. Box 176, Bow, WA 98232-0176, phone/fax 360.766.6008, e-mail nahkeeta@fidalgo.net.

Many years after penning his piece, Gellett Burgess wrote a follow up:

Ah, yes, I wrote “The Purple Cow”

I’m sorry now I wrote it

But I can tell you anyhow

I’ll kill you if you quote it.

I’m sure he would forgive my quoting it in defense against an aggressive enemy of our precious seafood resource.