Mendocino rivers invaded by Green Crabs

Tried crabbing in Big River on opening day. First off, it was a crazy scene, at least two dozen boats in the water including several powerboats. Not used to seeing that up here.
Crabbing was a total bust. I only heard of one or two legal size Dungeness.
New to me was the European Green Crab, which far outnumbered the few Dungeness I pulled up. Last July I don't remember seeing any - this time it's almost all you catch. Apparently the same story on the Albion, and I just talked to some guys throwing snares in the Noyo and they are getting them too.
So, we are in the early explosive-growth stage of an invasion. Probably won't be worth trying the rivers/estuaries here for a couple of years at least. I just hope those things don't move out into the open water as well.

Damn. Saw this from National Science Foundation:

https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=303624

Do any of our fish biologist type folks on here have more intel or advice on stopping the spread?

That's crazy!  I don't look forward to seeing them land here...

 

Interesting article about management methods: https://www.kqed.org/news/11628089/california-ecologists-strike-back-against-invasive-green-crabs

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Check this article out. They’re trying to eat them in Cape Cod..

https://ediblecapecod.ediblecommunities.com/food-thought/recipe-disaster-european-green-crab

Current approaches to solving the green crab problem include transplanting eelgrass and paying fisherman to trap the crabs for compost. When the crabs move into an area and destroy all the eel grass, they threaten the environment for fin fish. A third approach is to put effort into research and development for eating the green crabs—which involves understanding the molting process and also using the eggs

As mentioned, the green crab situation was bad at Albion in the river. Probably pulled up 10-15 of these little guys with each soak. Only hauled in 3 undersized dungies using 5 hoop nets and pulling each ~6 times. Very disappointed to have to postpone my much anticipated crab dinner. I heard that boats going out the mouth of the Albion river had some luck in the bay, but I didn't get a chance to venture out.

Are they edible?  If yes, what is the size/bag limit?

Had only ever seen them at Albion, and was when watching the kids on the dock crabbing.  They would pull them up and smash them, good fun!  Sad to hear they are aparently taking over.  Maybe need more kids smashing on that dock year round.

Are they edible?  If yes, what is the size/bag limit?

Not only edible but reportedly delicious - some say better than Dungeness. Problem is the small size, you spend an hour cleaning to get one meal's worth of meat. Bag limit is 35 and I don't think there is a size restriction. Most of them are in the 3-4 inch range.

Are they edible?  If yes, what is the size/bag limit?

Not only edible but reportedly delicious - some say better than Dungeness. Problem is the small size, you spend an hour cleaning to get one meal's worth of meat. Bag limit is 35 and I don't think there is a size restriction. Most of them are in the 3-4 inch range.

I caught a few up in Oregon last summer and tried one. Very good, but as Al said, it would take forever to make a meal out of them. I started seeing them in the last couple of years in Coos Bay and a few months ago they were common in the shallow brackish water. They were walking around in just few inches of water. I could just reach down and grab them.

Interesting article about management methods: https://www.kqed.org/news/11628089/california-ecologists-strike-back-against-invasive-green-crabs

Yes, very interesting, especially this:
"In 2014, after the team had removed most of the larger adult crabs from the lagoon, they saw the population skyrocket to over 300,000. It turns outs the adults cannibalize baby green crabs, keeping the population in check.

“What we did was undertake a management method, to find it failed horribly,” Grosholz said. “So now we have a strong recommendation for future efforts to control species like this.”

Grosholz's findings help support an environmental theory known as overcompensation. The idea posits that controlling an invasive species can backfire unless it's possible to remove every individual at once."

Invasion biology consistently follows a pattern: early colonization followed by explosive growth, followed by a long period of ecosystem readjustment and gradual (sometimes sudden) decrease in the invader population. Often there is a panicky response from humans during the explosive growth phase that does more harm than good. The explosive growth phase always grabs attention, both popular and scientific, and is inevitably accompanied by dire predictions "if current trends continue." Which they generally don't, except in island-type ecosystems.

It's pretty clear there isn't an easy way (or even a hard way) to reverse a Green Crab invasion - they are now a part of the ecosystem and will be here forever. That means the ecosystem will never function quite the way it did before. That seems "bad" to us, because we want everything to be the same as it was when we grew up, but that's not how the world works.

I'm going to interview Dr. Grosholz for our radio program, The Ecology Hour http://ecologyhour.wordpress.com.

Had only ever seen them at Albion, and was when watching the kids on the dock crabbing.  They would pull them up and smash them, good fun!  Sad to hear they are aparently taking over.  Maybe need more kids smashing on that dock year round.

That was so much fun! I temember 1 hoopnet pull, 39 crab and not a sinhlgle keeper!!