March 3, 2016 — It’s not easy being green . . . crabs, that is. Then, how could it be?
The green crabs are the poster child of invasive seafood species, prompting their fair share of hand-wringing and vitriol — not to mention legislative action here in Massachusetts to figure out ways to mitigate the far-flung eco-damage they’ve foisted on animal and plant species throughout the state’s Great Salt Marsh that stretches more than 20,000 acres from Cape Ann to the New Hampshire border.
Many people talk about the green crabs, but Spencer Montgomery is actually trying to do something about them. In short, he’d like restaurants and large-scale institutional food purveyors to start using them in recipes and for the consuming public to start eating them.
Montgomery, a seafood buyer for Woburn-based food vendor Dole & Bailey, is trying to build up a consuming market for the small, ubiquitous crabs, even if he has to do it one chef and harvester at a time.
“There’s really no reason we shouldn’t be selling hundreds of pounds of the green crabs each week,” Montgomery said. “It would be better to get them out of the water to help protect our other seafood species and the marine environment, but they’re also a real alternative for chefs looking to use crabs and crab flavors in different ways and at a far lower price.”
Montgomery said he recently filled orders for about 70 pounds of the crabs from three New England restaurants and now he’s looking to build up his network of harvesters to handle the future demand he envisions from restaurants, hotels, universities and hospitals.