October 6, 2025 — In Milbridge, a former farmer is grinding invasive green crabs into fertilizer. In South Portland, a Cambodian food incubator is incorporating them into seafood dishes.
The first time Sam Cheeney saw a green crab was in the early 2000s, as part of an ecology class at the University of Maine at Machias.
He and his classmates ventured out across the mud flats and rocky shoreline in search of the invasive species, one that research suggests has been present on Maine’s coast since the mid-1800s, when it was carried to North America in the ballast waters of a European ship. Today, green crabs prey on soft-shell clams and mussels and have been found to harm salt marshes.
“We would find pockets of just hundreds of them,” Cheeney said. The experience made an impression. In 2023, after stints as a farmer and carpenter, and more than two decades after his first glimpse of the green crab, Cheeney founded Green Kraken, a small business based in Milbridge that makes fertilizer from crushed green crabs. The nutrients in the green crab act as a stimulant for vegetables and other crops.