The Alaska Department of Fish and Game knows that invasive European green crabs are coming, and they would like to know where and when they arrive.
Larry Persily reports that the department is looking for a volunteer in Wrangell to serve as a frontline monitor for the invasive green crab, as state officials remain wary of the destructive species reaching local waters.
“Unfortunately, with no one being in place to look for the green crabs, we can’t know whether or not they’re in Wrangell,” Tammy Davis, the Juneau-based invasive species coordinator for the Department of Fish and Game, told the Sentinel.
“We just can’t know if the green crabs have arrived yet without having someone to monitor for it.”
The crabs, a particularly invasive species known for aggressively displacing native shellfish species and salmon fry and damaging important vegetation, were discovered last October at a bay north of Cooney Cove on Etolin Island, across Clarence Strait from the Blashke Islands.
The crabs were first found in Southeast Alaska in Metlakatla in the summer of 2022. Since then, they’ve been found increasingly farther north.
The volunteer position in Wrangell involves a minimal time commitment, requiring a volunteer monitor to set out five or six traps at low tide at least once a month, Davis said.
Anyone interested in helping or who sees what might be a green crab can call the department’s Invasive Species Hotline 1-877-468-2748.
