OLYMPIA, Wash. – The effort to eradicate European green crabs from Washington waters continues.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife says more than 138,000 of the invasive crabs have been removed so far this year.
The crabs are thought to have arrived in Puget Sound in the late 1990’s and their populations have exploded in recent years.
The Lummi Sea Pond west of Whatcom County is one of the trouble spots, with Lummi fishers finding tens of thousands there.
The DFW’s European Green Crab Incident Commander is optimistic, though, telling KING5 that he thinks it’s early enough in the invasion to stem the tide.
The crabs are voracious predators that consume other marine life and destroy the natural habitat.