My name is Nicole DeRoche and I am one of the Doyle fellows for the summer! I just graduated from Saint Anselm College with a degree in Environmental Science, with minors in Fine Arts and Psychology. I am working with Dr. Gabriela Bradt on invasive green crab bio-control. These crabs, brought over in the 1800s most likely in the ballast of ships, have been causing problems on the New England coasts for many years now. Because they are invasive, green crabs have no natural predators here and therefore nothing to keep their populations in check. We are trying to find a way to make humans their "predators" and create a market for them similarly to those of clams or lobsters. Since their shells are so hard and they are smaller than other crabs that we eat, it is a lot of work to crack them for not a lot of meat. We are trying to figure out their molting cycle so that we know when the crabs will be soft enough for humans to eat. If we can figure out the "signs" the crabs display right before molting, hopefully we can better predict when they will, and people can begin to sell them to restaurants and stores.
Last week, I started my first day on the job Tuesday; I got a tour of the Jackson Estuarine Lab and places around it. Then, Gabby's other intern, Mark, and I drove to Pierce Island to gather some green crabs to take back to the lab. He's been a lobsterman for practically his whole life, so he was much better at finding crustaceans than I was at first! I soon got the hang of it and figured out where to look for the crabs, how to catch them, and how to tell the males and females apart.
The next two days, the three of us (Gabby, Mark, and I) drove up to Portland, Maine for a green crab summit put on by none other than our own Gabby! She did an amazing job with it--we covered everything from the science behind these crabs, their history, and even talked to some professional chefs who made us some dishes with green crabs! There were also group discussions about green crabs and what to do with them, like how to manage them, or if we even can manage them, and how to spread awareness to the public. We had people come from many different states (and countries-we had some researchers from Canada join us!) for this summit, and we also Skyped a scientist from California where they are also dealing with invasive green crabs. It was exhausting but very fun and educational! Another part I loved was a local Maine fourth grade class, who had been studying green crabs for weeks, came to the summit the second day and gave us a presentation on green crabs! Afterwards, they quizzed us with a fun game and later we could quiz them on what they had learned about the crabs as well.
Above left: The fourth grade class's presentation on green crabs.
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