Adapting to Green Crabs in Coastal Maine

With Marissa McMahan, PhD
Senior Director of Fisheries, Manomet

Wednesday, February 12, 2025 at 7:00 pm
Register for Zoom Presentation

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Marissa McMahan

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Friends of Merrymeeting Bay’s (FOMB) fourth presentation of their 28th annual Winter Speaker Series, Adapting to Green Crabs in Coastal Maine, with Marissa McMahan. Winter Speaker Series presentations are again being held via Zoom and are accessible via hyperlink at the top of the FOMB web page: www.fomb.org. This event takes place Wednesday, February 12th at 7 pm.

Marissa McMahan, Ph.D, is the Senior Director of Fisheries at Manomet. Her research focuses on restoring ecosystem productivity and strengthening and diversifying fisheries resources through diverse stakeholder partnerships, community engagement, and knowledge coproduction. She also works to advance adaptive fisheries co-management and elevate the importance of stakeholder participation in decision-making processes. Prior to becoming a scientist, she worked as a commercial fisher for many years. Green crabs have wreaked havoc on native species and habitats worldwide and are thriving in the Gulf of Maine as climate change causes rapid and unprecedented ocean warming. This talk will provide an overview of green crab monitoring, management, and adaptation efforts led by Manomet and partners since 2017. 1. Green Crab Monitoring: The European green crab is a harmful invasive species that has caused major disruptions to ecosystems worldwide. Observations of green crab population dynamics over time and space are essential for predicting and managing the ecological and economic impacts of this harmful invasive species. Since 2018, Manomet has conducted monthly monitoring of invasive green crabs at several locations along the Maine coast. Many research partners, students and community scientists contribute to this work. Our green crab data is proving useful in a wide range of applications including ecological research, conservation efforts, mitigation strategies, and fishery development, as well as educational outreach purposes. This data are open-access and available through the Environmental Data Initiative’s data repository 2. Green Crab Fishery Development: Manomet is working throughout coastal New England to develop fisheries and markets for green crabs to provide an adaptive fisheries diversification strategy for coastal communities. This requires fishers to catch and identify pre-molt green crabs that will molt and be sold as lucrative soft-shell crabs to restaurants. We are also working with partners to develop value-added products like fermented green crab sauce that can be used by restaurants and home chefs.

Speaker Series presentations are free, open to the public. Visit www.fomb.org to see speaker biographies, full event schedules, video recordings of past presentations, become a member, and learn more about how you can help protect beautiful Merrymeeting Bay and the Gulf of Maine.

For more information contact FOMB at 207-666-3372 or edfomb@comcast.net.