All concern Alaskans are ready to keep a close eye on green crab. They set small crab traps where green crabs are likely to make their first appearance in Alaska. Ketchikan resident Gary Freitag works for Alaska Sea Grant which is funded by NOAA and the University of Alaska. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Ketchikan. He already started working on this.
It is said that the cooperative nature of Freitag’s funding echoes what can be seen across the state: many people from scientists to fishermen to citizens to students, with federal to state to private affiliations have their eyes open for the first sign of green crabs. Linda Shaw, invasive species expert with NOAA Fisheries in Juneau, said that trained monitors set small crab traps during low tides and check after 24 hours have passed.
It is informed that green crabs top out at about 10 centimeters (4 inches) across. They displace native species with their voracious eating and breeding habits: clams, oyster, mussels, marine worms and other crabs fall prey. Green crabs also devour herring, salmon bones, or canned cat food, which are most commonly used to bait the traps.
Vigilant monitors have not yet found any green crabs in Alaska, but the estuaries and sheltered coves of Southeast Alaska are the most likely first sighting points. It is found that green crabs invaded Cape Cod nearly two centuries ago. They arrived somewhere between New Jersey and Massachusetts, probably on rock ballast or in the hulls of European ships. They have been spreading in North America since.
NOAA Fisheries recruited and trained monitors in Ketchikan, Gustavus and Sitka. The Southeast Alaska monitors completed their first season of trapping in 2008.
