Photo: Hans Hillewaert

It sounds like a low budget horror/sci-fi flick —  “Nasty Mutant Green Crabs Invade Maine.” Sadly, it is no movie pitch. LiveScience reports that an aggressive breed of green crab is indeed invading Maine’s waters. 

Green crabs have been in North America in the 1800s. They are believed to have arrived in the ballast water of ships from Europe. In recent years, however, a genetically different European green crab from Nova Scotia, Canada — one that is more combative and more destructive of ecosystems — has appeared off the coast of Maine. 

Known as the “cockroach of the sea,” the green crab can decimate marine environments as it reproduces quickly, mows down eelgrass with its claws and devours just about any species it comes across that’s comparable in size or smaller.

The CBC quotes Chris McCarthy, a Parks Canada scientist at Kejimkujik National Park. “They can upset entire ecosystems. They cause cascading problems. Ecosystems are getting hammered because of this new invasive species.”

No one is entirely sure how to combat the green menace. A Nova Scotian fisherman has developed a trap design which he used to catch more than two million green crabs from one estuary over a few years. 

But once the crabs are trapped, what is to be done with them? Some have suggested using them for animal feed or compost. Some have even taken the approach of “if you can’t beat ’em, eat ’em.” So far no one has succeeded in turning the invasive green crabs into a restaurant delicacy. 

The Maine fisheries are having challenging times in recent years. While lobster yields have been booming, there is a real concern that the boom may become a bust, in part due to stress from climate change. Additionally, the lobster industry in Maine is being hit hard by the current administration’s tariffs and trade war. The opioid crisis has also impacted lobstering.  And now, mutant green crabs are invading.