{"id":212952,"date":"2026-01-02T09:48:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T09:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/212952\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T09:48:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T09:48:33","slug":"why-a-tiny-green-crab-could-be-a-big-problem-in-quebec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/212952\/","title":{"rendered":"Why a tiny green crab could be a big problem in Quebec"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been years since the tiny but aggressive European green crab made its way over to the Magdalen Islands, and some researchers in Quebec are warning it could be headed for the Gasp\u00e9 next.<\/p>\n

The green crab was first spotted off the coast of the Magdalen Islands in 2004, but its population really began to surge in the area around 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The creature is characterized by its serrated, pentagon-shaped shell, and can grow up to 10 centimetres in size.<\/p>\n

While the invasion is nowhere near as severe as it is in other provinces<\/a>, researchers in the Lower St. Lawrence are working to track its movements to better predict where and when it might migrate next. <\/p>\n

Piero Calosi, a professor of evolutionary physiology and biology at the Universit\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec \u00e0 Rimouski, says the progressive warming of the Gulf of St. Lawrence has facilitated its migration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expected the change, but we didn\u2019t expect the change to be so rapid,\u201d said Calosi, who\u2019s leading a study on the green crab. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce an invasive species has arrived and the conditions are good, eradication is almost impossible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The green crab feasts on about 150 different organisms, including everything from mussels and clams to baby lobster, posing a threat to the local marine ecosystem. <\/p>\n

\u201cWherever he\u2019s arrived, he has caused trouble,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same temperature changes and climate phenomena that has led the nordic shrimp population to all but disappear off the coast of Matane, Calosi said.<\/p>\n

\"AKathleen MacGregor uses a combination of field work and lab work out of an aquarium in Mont-Joli, Que., to better understand the movements of the green crab. (Jean-Luc Blanchet\/Radio-Canada)<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough we only detect it presently in Quebec waters on the Magdalen Islands, given the context of climate change, how water temperatures are evolving … I expect in the future that we will find it in more and more sites in Quebec,” said Kathleen MacGregor, an aquatic sciences biologist with the department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, who has been working on the same project. <\/p>\n

According to their mapping so far, she said, the green crab could even spread as far as the C\u00f4te-Nord. The larvae often travel with the current, but adult green crabs have also been known to hitch rides on lobster cages or on boats.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While it may no longer be the principle way the species is spreading, MacGregor warns it\u2019s important for boaters to clean anything that has touched the water to avoid inadvertently spreading the species.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGreen crabs are particularly resistant. They can live for a couple of weeks out of water,” MacGregor said. “They can hang out in the bottom of your car, for example, if one made it in there, waiting to get somewhere new.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hundreds of green crabs caught on Magdalen Islands\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Comit\u00e9 ZIP, an environmental advocacy group on the Magdalen Islands, has been setting up traps and disposing of green crabs found in the area by freezing them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They did two major capture operations in 2025, catching about 1,000 of the creatures, and have been working closely with Calosi and researchers with the department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada to prevent the invasion from getting out of control.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have small traps that we display in the lagoons,\u201d said Comit\u00e9 ZIP spokesperson No\u00e9mie Pelletier.<\/p>\n

\"TheResearchers with Fisheries and Oceans Canada work with volunteers from the Comit\u00e9 ZIP to capture green crab on the Magdalen Islands in the fall and spring.<\/p>\n

(Courtesy Fisheries and Oceans Canada)<\/p>\n

Pelletier said her group\u2019s main concern is that the green crabs have been destroying eel grass beds in those lagoons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very important habitat because it provides nurseries for a lot of species of fish and crustaceans, it\u2019s also a place of feeding for some species,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Little commercial value, researcher says<\/p>\n

While the green crabs may be useful as bait in catching some sea creatures, they don\u2019t carry much commercial value, the researchers explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Being so small, it\u2019s difficult to extract enough flesh off of them to eat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s good enough to make a soup or a bisque, but nothing more,\u201d said Calosi.<\/p>\n

According to Calosi, the green crab is estimated to cost up to $23 million in damage to the economy in Atlantic Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Quebec, the fishing industry is preparing for the potential arrival of the species. <\/p>\n

“We’re trying to find out how it could impact the lobster stock,” said Claudio Bernatchez, head of the Association des capitaines propri\u00e9taires de la Gasp\u00e9sie. <\/p>\n

“It could push lobster away, so that’s really a concern.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147],"class_list":{"0":"post-212952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}