| Title | Status of the European Green Crab, Carcinus maenas, in Oregon and Washington coastal Estuaries in 2017 |
| Publication Type | Report |
| Year of Publication | 2018 |
| Authors | Yamada, Sylvia Behrens, Bree Yednock, Julia Indivero, Christina Geierman, Joel A. Prickett, Andrea Randall, and Adrianne Akmajian |
| Pagination | 29 p. |
| Institution | Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. Aquatic Nuisance Species Project |
| Call Number | OSU Libraries: Digital Open Access |
| Keywords | Alsea Bay, aquatic invertebrates, Boat ramp (Netarts), Coos Bay, Coquille River estuary, crustaceans, El Nino, European green crab = Carcinus maenas, Grays Harbor (Wa.), Hatfield Marine Science Center, introduced species, Johnson’s Slough (Yaquina), Makah Bay (Wa.), Nehalem Bay, Netarts Bay, North of Nevor Shellfish (Netarts), Oregon Coast Aquarium mudflat, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, population count, Sally’s Bend, Tillamook Bay, Whiskey Creek Salmon Hatchery, Willapa Bay (Wa.), Yaquina Bay |
| Notes | The invasive European green crab is a voracious predator of bivalve molluscs, small crustaceans and other organisms. It has been present in Oregon since the late 1990s. The population grows when winter waters are warm, as they are during El Niños. “Prior to 2015, green crabs were too rare to exert measurable effects on the native benthic community and on shellfish culture in Oregon and Washington. Following the recent strong El Niño, however, we documented the arrival of three strong year classes in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Average catch rates in over the last three years steadily increased from 0.5 to 0.8 and to 1.9 crabs per trap. These catches are much higher than in any of the previous years, including 1998. Since green crabs live for 6 years, these three consecutive year classes will provide larvae until 2023. A switch to cooler ocean conditions in the coming years will result in poor recruitment, but a return to high PDO and strong El Niño patterns would signal good recruitment and higher green crab densities.” (from the Executive Summary) Coos Bay, in particular, has experienced shocking growth of this population, going from 9 crabs captured in 2002 to 1,653 crabs captured in 2017. This report is accompanied by a dataset, available at: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/datasets/rn3016632 |
| URL | https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/technical_reports/rx913w156 |
