Once again we hosted a valuable lunch & learn in acknowledgment and celebration of World Ocean's Day... this year, a rather serious topic and one that is top of mind for FOSBS - the Invasive European Green Crab. Learn about cross-boundary and across-BC initiatives and how you might get involved. Special thanks to Marg Cuthbert and Diane Watson for their efforts in hosting and pulling this together!
Presenter Bios & Project Description:
Project: South Coast European Green Crab Control Project
Presenter: Crysta Stubbs
Bio: Crysta Stubbs is a Senior Project Manager and Biologist with Coastal Restoration Society. As the lead for their Science Department, she works directly with Indigenous governments and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to control and mitigate the spread of European green crab within the Pacific Region.
Focus of Presentation:
Coastal Restoration Society is a non-profit based out of Vancouver Island. I will briefly introduce the organization and touch on what projects we work on and who our partners are.
The bulk of my presentation will focus on the South Coast European Green Crab Control Project. I will be discussing the aims, objectives and goals of the project as well as who our managing partners are. I will discuss impacts green crab have here in the Pacific Region as well as what catch results have been achieved to date through this project. I will also touch on the logistics of our project including methods, disposal, etc.
To close I will discuss next steps of this work (funding dependent) and how CRS and partners see this work continuing into the future.
Project: Collaborative green crab management in Drayton Harbor
Presenter: Allie Simpson holds an M.S. in Marine and Estuarine Science from Western Washington University where she studied eelgrass ecology. She joined the Northwest Straits Commission in 2020 and has since participated on a variety of nearshore projects including coordinating European green crab management efforts in North Puget Sound and implementing eelgrass protection zones across the Salish Sea.
Presenter: Leah Robison serves as the Ecosystem Projects Specialist for the Northwest Straits Commission. She is currently pursuing her M.S. in Land Resources and Environmental Sciences through Montana State University. For the Northwest Straits Commission, she helps coordinate a monitoring and removal effort of invasive European green crab in Drayton Harbor near Blaine, WA.
Focus of Presentation:
European green crab, considered one of the world’s most damaging invasive species, could threaten native organisms and nearshore habitats in the Salish Sea. Since 2020 in Drayton Harbor, Northwest Straits Commission (NWSC) has worked with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), University of Washington Sea Grant, and many other local partners to create a monitoring and removal trapping program to reduce the green crab numbers, track their relative abundance at select sites over time, and build up baseline information about the native species found at these sites. Community outreach on European green crab identification and talking with local residents about the importance of European green crab monitoring and removal is also an important aspect of this collaborative project. This collaborative approach for a trapping and removal program has been successful because of the great contributions from partners who provide field support, outreach to the community, tideland access, equipment, technical assistance, and more. In this presentation, we will give background about the European green crab problem in Drayton Harbor, and we will share about the partner collaboration, trapping methods, and results over the course of this monitoring and removal trapping program.
A few links shared for those who wish to get involved or learn more:
EGC Training: https://bcinvasives.ca/resources/learning-centre/
iNaturalist app: https://www.inaturalist.org/
DFO EGC information: https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/profiles-profils/europeangreencrab-crabevert-eng.html
Narrated Educational Powerpoint (geared to youth) created by Megan Winand for FOSBS in Spring 2022 - Download from Google Drive to your desktop. Open in PPT presentation view to play audio narration: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RmXlDyWXb-0z7IlgqGILvi7BaruvXztz/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=117198800201884187819&rtpof=true&sd=true