Volunteers on the hunt for green crabs in Millstream Estuary happily report finding no interlopers this summer.
Peninsula Streams and Shorelines spent some time this spring training with the Port Alberni-based Coastal Restoration Society to take up arms against the small Salish Sea invaders.
As a result, 29 volunteers helped with monthly monitoring of Millstream Estuary and aggressive trapping of the Gorge Waterway in response to green crabs detected by the Gorge Waterway Action Society.
No European green crabs were found at Millstream Estuary but they did find hairy shore crabs, graceful crabs, hairy hermit crabs, staghorn sculpin and shiner perch.
They’re present up the west coast in a slow invasion underway for more than two decades according to Fisheries and Oceans Canada data.
Signs at busy beach accesses across Greater Victoria inform visitors about the small crab that can irreversibly alter ecosystems.
First found on the east coast in 1951 in the waters off New Brunswick, they have expanded to many locations in the Atlantic. In the west, the European green crab likely arrived in the late 1990s through larval transport. Now they’re found along the entire west coast of Vancouver Island and advocates are watching for the crab’s potential crawl up the inside coast.
Peninsula Streams and Shorelines plans to return to the area next spring to monitor again.
In the meantime, the advocacy agency urges residents to be on the lookout for the invasive critter in local waterways.
The European green crab can reach 10 centimetres in width, is usually green but can be red or yellow, and is distinguished by five distinct spines on the outer side of each eye.
Anyone who thinks they have discovered any aquatic invasive species can take photos, and note the exact location with GPS coordinates, the date and identifying features.
That information can be reported by email to DFO.AISPacific-EAEPacifique.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.
