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

COVID-19 Resources for Shellfish Industry

30
MAR

0

Aquaculture, Outreach

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

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

(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

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

0

Green Crab Monitoring

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

0

Green Crab Monitoring

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

0

Green Crab Monitoring

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

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

Protocol In Focus: Why do we estimate the roots of vegetation?

June 3, 2019

One strength of the Crab Team protocol is that it enables us to confidently compare findings among sites, and track changes over time – even if different people are doing the sampling. With sampling on this scale, even the small steps can be important to what we learn from the data. Protocol in Focus allows us to expand on these details, and offer an opportunity to see all the behind-the-scenes planning that goes into methodology.

3
JUN

0

Green Crab Monitoring

New detection of European green crab in Bellingham

May 30, 2019

The remains of a European green crab were found in Squalicum Harbor in Bellingham earlier this week, the first evidence of the global invader confirmed in Whatcom County. Casey Pruett, director of the Marine Life Center, noticed a gull feeding on the carcass at the boat ramp immediately adjacent to the center, recognized it as a European green crab, and reported to Angela Foster, the on duty WDFW agent at the harbor. Most of the ...

30
MAY

0

Green Crab Monitoring

Green Crab Trapping Resumes in the Salish Sea

May 13, 2019

The return of spring means trapping season for green crab is now under way. In April, WSG Crab Team resumed early detection trapping across the monitoring network along Washington’s inland shorelines. We’re pleased to share that Crab Team has received funding to continue this work for the next biennium (July 2019 – June 2021) in the Washington State budget. To date, the program was funded primarily through the Puget Sound Marine and Nearshore Grant Program (US Environmental ...

13
MAY

0

Green Crab Monitoring, Uncategorized

Kelp Aquaculture

27
MAR

0

Aquaculture, Outreach

Budget News from Washington D.C.

March 18, 2019

Update on Sea Grant Funding for Fiscal Year 2020 from the WSG Director

Dear Friends,

With vocal support from our many stakeholders, the National Sea Grant College Program was reinstated in the federal budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. The Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2019 was passed by Congress and signed by the President in February, which is encouraging news for Sea Grant and the many constituents who benefit from our work around the nation. The Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2019 provides ...

18
MAR

0

Fisheries, Hazard Resilience, Marine and Coastal Planning, News, Outreach, Safe, Sustainable Seafood, Shoreline Living and Restoration, Uncategorized, Volunteer Programs, WSG News Blog