Scientists look for invasive crab “fingerprint” in Alaska waters
Posted by Joe Viechnicki | Dec 17, 2020
A European green crab. (Photo by Emily Grason/Washington Sea Grant)
Scientists are on the lookout for an invasive crab species expected to move north into Alaskan waters. This year in Southeast Alaska, they added a new tool to the monitoring effort for European green crab, a threat to the state’s shellfish and salmon.
European green crab or shore crab have been expanding their range north along the Pacific coast. But this year they were discovered just south of the Alaskan border.
“This Haida Gwaii occurrence last summer puts them very close to us and I really wish I could say we don’t expect them but prudence dictates that we say yes we think it’s a matter of when, not if,” said Linda Shaw, invasive species coordinator for the Alaska regional office of NOAA Fisheries.