‘Threatens our environment and coastal economies’
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An invasive crab species is spreading in Washington, and officials are urging residents to help control the dangerous population.
What’s happening?
The European green crab was recently discovered for the first time along the state’s North Central Coast, Seattle’s KING 5 reported.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife removed 33 of the small crustaceans from the La Push area in early August. It had pulled 285,000 of the species from Willapa Bay in the southwest part of the state and the Lummi Nation’s Sea Pond in the northwest in 2022.
“European green crabs do not respect jurisdictional boundaries,” WDFW aquatic invasive species policy coordinator Justin Bush told KING 5. “This is an excellent example of tribal nations, the state, and researchers working together to address a shared problem that threatens our environment and coastal economies.”
Why is this important?
The European green crab has been in Washington waters since at least 1998, according to WDFW, but their presence didn’t begin to wreak havoc until recently.
