Saving Seafood

Another outside crab species turns up in Maine waters

October 15, 2019 — A scientist with an environmental group says she has found what she believes is the first recorded appearance of a potentially damaging species of crab in Maine waters.

Marissa McMahan of the Massachusetts-based group Manomet said she located the smooth mud crab this month on a research trip. The crabs are typically found south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They can pose problems for aquaculture businesses because they prey on young oysters — a species of high economic value that is grown in Maine.

McMahan collected the single specimen, and it’s still alive. She said it’s too early to know how the animal ended up in the New Meadows River in West Bath, but it’s important to monitor for more of them.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Maine nonprofit awarded NOAA grant to develop green crab market

September 19, 2018 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program has given a grant of USD 267,440 (EUR 229,165) to a Maine, U.S.A.-based nonprofit Manomet in order to work on creating a fishery for invasive European green crabs.

The grant will allow Manomet to expand its project on creating a new economic opportunity out of soft-shell green crabs in New England. The green crab, a species that is invasive to New England, has been present for more than a hundred years and has recently expanded in numbers to the point it is putting pressure on local species.

That pressure has contributed to record low landings of caught and farmed mussels, and also threatens Maine’s softshell clam industry.

Manomet has already launched efforts to galvanize efforts on commercializing green crabs. On 6 and 7 June, the organization hosted a “Green Crab Working Summit” in Portland, Maine, to bring together various experts to discuss commercialization of the species.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Non-Profit Gets Award to Investigate a Commercial Green Crab industry in New England

September 17, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Manomet, a non-profit organization headquartered in Plymouth, Massachusetts, has been awarded $267,440 by the NOAA Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program to “expand work to develop a lucrative green crab fishery in New England.”

“Utilizing an invasive species to diversify fisheries resources may ultimately enhance the future resiliency of New England’s coastal communities, and could serve as a unique example of how to mitigate and adapt to the ecological and socioeconomic impacts of climate-drive change,” Manomet Senior Fisheries Scientist Marissa McMahon said in a statement. “We are honored to have been chosen by the Saltonstall-Kennedy program.”

European green crabs were introduced to the U.S. in the early 1800s. The invasive species has been thriving with the warming of the water in the Gulf of Mexico. McMahon is hopeful that Manomet will be able to replicate Italy’s lucrative soft-shell green crab fishery with the funding from NOAA.

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished here with permission.

 

Researchers hope to get Maine green crabs on the menu

September 13, 2018 — Could deep-fried soft-shell green crabs be the next culinary sensation?

Researchers at Manomet, a Brunswick nonprofit, have discovered a culinary market for green crabs in Venice, Italy, that they think could carry over to U.S. restaurants.

Now they’ve received a $267,440 grant, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Saltonstall-Kennedy Grant Program, to see if the idea can be adapted to create a lucrative market for Maine fishermen.

A lucrative soft-shell green crab fishery has existed in Venice for over a century, Marissa McMahan, Manomet senior fisheries scientist, said. McMahan told Mainebiz that Venetian fishermen are getting $25 to $55 per pound for green crabs, depending on season and availability.

Manomet has worked with several volunteer fishermen to harvest soft-shell green crabs, which have been sold at $3 each to chefs at four restaurants: Brunswick Inn, Enoteca Athena and Henry and Marty, all in Brunswick, and at Salt Pine Social in Bath.

The chefs developed the crabs as a battered and deep-fried menu item, served whole.

“The chefs use the soft-shell green crab in the same way the use soft-shell blue crab,” McMahan said. “It hasn’t completely replaced blue crab on their menus because we don’t have the supply yet.”

The shells are soft enough that they become part of the food, she said.

Read the full story at MaineBiz