Environmental Threats

WSG and WDFW Expand Green Crab Trapping on the Washington Coast

WSG and WDFW Expand Green Crab Trapping on the Washington Coast

August 30, 2020

In 2016, when invasive European green crabs were first found on San Juan Island, media coverage left a lot of folks on Washington’s coast scratching their heads. Why the sudden concern? After all, green crabs were first detected in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor several decades ago, starting in 1998, and had mostly disappeared. Shellfish growers might see them on occasion, but they were no longer considered the looming threat perceived at the turn ...

31
AUG

0

Green Crab Monitoring

Launching Collaborative Green Crab Management in Drayton Harbor (part 2)

Launching Collaborative Green Crab Management in Drayton Harbor (part 2)

July 3, 2020

Removal of European green crab in Drayton Harbor is now underway, thanks to the collaborative efforts of WSG, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), the Northwest Straits Commission (NWSC) and other stakeholders. This is the second of two posts on efforts to date. Part 1 covered the development of the management team.

Removal trapping of European green crabs at Drayton Harbor officially began on May 26. Since then, staff with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) ...

3
JUL

0

Green Crab Monitoring

Launching Collaborative Green Crab Management in Drayton Harbor (part 1)

Launching Collaborative Green Crab Management in Drayton Harbor (part 1)

July 2, 2020

Removal of European green crab in Drayton Harbor is now underway, thanks to the collaborative efforts of WSG, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), the Northwest Straits Commission (NWSC) and many other partners and stakeholders. This is the first of two posts on efforts to date.

Starting last fall, following the detection of green crabs in Drayton Harbor, in Blaine, first as molts, then in two assessment trapping efforts, WSG and WDFW began developing a collaborative ...

2
JUL

0

Green Crab Monitoring

A Slow Start to the 2020 Green Crab Season

A Slow Start to the 2020 Green Crab Season

May 8, 2020

Like so many other projects and programs right now, partners contributing to state-wide efforts to manage European green crabs are trying to figure out what can safely be done, in the midst of the global pandemic, to address the urgent threat of invasion. In particular, there has been concern that green crabs won’t wait until COVID-related isolation measures are lifted to continue their population growth and spread, and that we could miss a critical ...

8
MAY

0

Green Crab Monitoring

WSG Crab Team Receives 2020 Salish Sea Science Prize

WSG Crab Team Receives 2020 Salish Sea Science Prize

April 22, 2020

The SeaDoc Society announced Washington Sea Grant Crab Team as the 2020 winner of the Salish Sea Science Prize. The SeaDoc Society, a program of the UC Davis Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center, awards the Salish Sea Science Prize every two years in recognition of scientists whose work results in the improved health of fish and wildlife populations in the Salish Sea.

The Sea Doc Society recognized the Crab Team for their use of science to improve the health of the Salish ...

22
APR

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Green Crab Monitoring, WSG News Blog

Crab Team Welcomes Program Coordinator

Crab Team Welcomes Program Coordinator

April 9, 2020

Dear Crab Team enthusiasts, I’m excited to introduce myself as the new Crab Team coordinator. During these unusual times, I know that many of us are striving to fill our days with meaning and more time outdoors. Once it is safe to do so, I look forward to doing both in the name of Crab Team. In this position, I will support program volunteers and partners through site visits, training coordination, data submission processing and science ...

9
APR

0

Green Crab Monitoring

Crab Team and COVID-19

Crab Team and COVID-19

March 31, 2020

March and April are typically the busiest months on the Crab Team annual calendar, as staff and volunteers reunite for training workshops to relaunch the monitoring season. This spring, however, the Crab Team office has been almost entirely empty over the past month. The leadership of Washington Sea Grant, in collaboration with the UW College of the Environment, is following all advice and directives set forth for safety and health by the University of Washington around the COVID-19 ...

1
APR

0

Green Crab Monitoring, WSG News Blog

Protocol in Focus: How do we steward Crab Team sites?

Protocol in Focus: How do we steward Crab Team sites?

In addition to creating a scientifically robust sampling scheme, and one that is sensitive to finding green crab when they are rare, Crab Team also put a great deal of thought and guidance into the protocol with the goal of being good stewards of Washington’s shorelines. Even though our goal is to detect green crab as they first arrive and help avoid ecological damage, it is certainly true that the act of sampling itself can be a disturbance to a site. ...

6
NOV

0

Green Crab Monitoring

Further Green Crab Captures in Whatcom County

Further Green Crab Captures in Whatcom County

October 22, 2019

Broadening the search for invasive European green crab in Drayton Harbor, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and WSG Crab Team captured additional European green crab in recent weeks. In addition, Lummi Natural Resources has reported capturing green crab in Lummi Bay as a result of early detection trapping, expanding the list of new sites where green crab have been confirmed in Whatcom County this year.

Drayton Harbor, Blaine

Following the discovery of several molted green ...

24
OCT

0

Green Crab Monitoring

Invasive Green Crabs Found at Drayton Harbor

Invasive Green Crabs Found at Drayton Harbor

(Photo: A male, 38.5mm European green crab, one of the 17 captured at Drayton Harbor last month.)

October 8, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Blaine, WA — As part of an early-detection partnership, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Washington Sea Grant (WSG) Crab Team found evidence of European green crabs (Carcinus maenas) in Drayton Harbor during regular monitoring, and then trapped 17 green crabs during a two-day rapid response in ...

8
OCT

0

Green Crab Monitoring

European Green Crab Detection During San Juan Island Assessment

European Green Crab Detection During San Juan Island Assessment

September 6th, 2019

Last week, Crab Team Program Manager, Emily Grason, and Program Assistant, Kelly Martin, conducted a trapping assessment on San Juan Island with Chelsey Buffington and Roy Clark from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). After three days and more than 330 trap sets, one male European green crab (64 mm) was found in Westcott Bay.

Westcott Bay, on the northern end of San Juan Island, is the location of the very first ...

6
SEP

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Green Crab Monitoring

Detection of European Green Crab in Drayton Harbor

Detection of European Green Crab in Drayton Harbor

August 22, 2019

Crab Team volunteers in Drayton Harbor, just south of the border with Canada, found the shell of an invasive European green crab while walking the beach this past Saturday. The detection is the furthest northward along Washington shorelines the invasive species has been confirmed.

Margaret Santamaria and Margarette Grant are part of the Crab Team crew at a monitoring site on California Creek. They made the discovery while they were conducting a survey nearby for another citizen science project, ...

22
AUG

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Green Crab Monitoring

Additional Green Crab Captured in Samish Bay

Additional Green Crab Captured in Samish Bay

August 13, 2019

Growers working with Taylor Shellfish captured a female European green crab while working in oyster beds last week. This crab is the fourth that has been found in Samish Bay this year, the first three detections occurring in early January. At about 75mm (~3″) across the back shell, this crab was relatively large for a female, but had a thin, pliable shell, indicating she had recently molted. Growers noticed the crab while processing an oyster pallet, removed ...

13
AUG

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Green Crab Monitoring

Green Crab Trappers Get Skunked at Pysht

Green Crab Trappers Get Skunked at Pysht

July 17, 2019

Drenched and muddy, but greatly relieved, we packed all 150 traps out of the Pysht estuary this morning. Over the past three days, in partnership with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Crab Team staff participated in an expanded assessment trapping effort that resulted in roughly 300 trap sets, and, most importantly, zero detections of European green crabs.

The Pysht river estuary is a huge and beautiful marsh, with miles of muddy channels, ...

17
JUL

0

Green Crab Monitoring

Additional Green Crabs Captured in Whatcom County

Additional Green Crabs Captured in Whatcom County

July 8, 2019

Last week was a busy one for European green crab monitoring on Washington’s inland shorelines. Two expanded trapping efforts were taking place simultaneously at the beginning of the week, with mixed results. The first, a trapping effort in Whatcom County conducted by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Technician, Chelsey Buffington, turned up three European green crab in Chuckanut Bay. WDFW conducted this trapping in response to the recent discovery of a green ...

8
JUL

0

Green Crab Monitoring

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