CapeNews.net – This spring, the town will set traps up and down Green Pond in hopes of catching and eradicating, or at least reducing, the population of the invasive green crab, one of the worst soft-shell clam predators.
“They’re voracious and prolific,” said Marine and Environmental Services fisheries technician Matthew V. Weeks. He blames the invasion of the European crabs in part for the nonexistent commercial soft-shell clam, or steamer, fishery in Falmouth.
They have caused the depletion of shellfish resources in other areas of New England as they also feed on oysters, quahogs and mussels, Mr. Weeks said. They are also known to mow down eelgrass that many shellfish use for their habitats.
Scientists believe the green crabs journeyed to North America in the ballast of Europeans ships in the late 1800s.
This is one of the biggest problems with being a global vacation destination, you let a few of the wrong ships in your port in your early years and you end up getting crabs from some Eurotrash. The next thing you know nobody is harvesting your once abundant soft clam.
It’s not surprising that our marshes caught crabs when you think about it. What’s with all the eel grass? Maybe if we start shaving so our coastline doesn’t look like a jungle the crabs might die off. This is Cape Cod for crying out loud, not the set of some ’70’s porno. Time to clean it up.
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