August 26, 2013 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:
The Maine Department of Marine Resources will hold a press conference on Wednesday, August 28 at noon to discuss a one-day, coast-wide survey of the invasive European green crab.
The survey will involve volunteer participants setting and hauling baited traps in areas of the coast with an abundance of soft-shell clams, the third most lucrative commercial fishery in Maine behind lobster and elvers.
The green crab population in some areas of Maine has increased dramatically in recent years and they have been feeding on shellfish resources such as blue mussels and soft-shell clams.
The survey is designed to provide a snap shot of the locations and relative abundance of green crabs populations statewide. This information will then be used by the Department to raise awareness of the problem and to assist municipalities with a plan for control of these aggressive shellfish predators.
Speaking at the press conference will be Kohl Kanwit, Director of the Maine Department of Marine Resources Bureau of Public Health, Dr. Brian Beal, a professor of marine ecology at the University of Maine at Machias, and Chad Coffin, President of the Maine Clammers Association, Dan Devereaux, Brunswick Shellfish Warden, and Patrick Keliher, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
The press conference will be held at Winslow Park in Freeport. Accommodations will be made available for reporters to view and record trap hauling.