The Guardian interviews Beal about coping with invasive green crabs
Brian Beal, a professor of marine ecology at the University of Maine at Machias, spoke with The Guardian for the article, “Coping with crisis: how scientists are making an invasive crab a delicacy.” Due to warming waters in the Gulf of Maine, green crabs have taken hold, devastating soft-shell clam populations depended on for food and income, cutting their harvest to the lowest levels in nearly 90 years while simultaneously destroying eelgrass habitats that serve as nurseries for young fish, the article states. In Maine, soft-shell clam harvests have fallen off significantly over the past three decades. Beal said his research has found that as much as 99 percent of clams in many parts of Maine are dying before they reach adulthood; many are eaten by green crabs. While some researchers promoting green crabs as a food source hope their efforts can restore clam populations, Beal said he believes that is unlikely. “The most damage that’s occurring by green crabs on soft-shell clams is by crabs that are smaller than your thumbnail,” he said. “There’s no way you can trap crabs that are the size of your thumbnail.” Beal calls the green crab the “consummate invader” due to its ability to “out-reproduce anything else” as well as its breadth of habitat and diet.