– RESEARCH –

Green Crabs

Invasive Green crabs, Carcinus maenas, have been preying on soft-shell clams and other commercially important shellfish at alarming rates, driven by  seawater temperatures that have risen over the past 40 years. DEI has been studying the impacts of green crabs on soft-shell clams for 30 years.

Intertidal recruitment of soft-shell clams, blue mussels, and green crabs at two sites in Taunton Bay in Franklin

From April- November 2022 Downeast Institute collaborated with the Friends of Taunton Bay to measure recruitment behavior of soft-shell clams and green crabs at two intertidal mudflats in Taunton Bay, Franklin, Maine. This effort also provided data on blue mussel recruitment. Methods Beal boxes [...]

Green Crab Research: 2013-2017

As part of DEI’s four year investigation into the soft-shell clam decline in Casco Bay, DEI examined the effectiveness of different methods to protect shellfish from green crabs and other predators. As part of this we conducted systematic green crab trapping in 2014 and 2015, and combined that [...]

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