Millions of King Crabs Turn Sea to Desert

Reporter writes "Russian biologist, Yuri Illarionovich Orlov, succeeded where Stalin failed by implanting the red king crabs into the Barents Sea. Except now, 40 years later, he's getting worried. Why? The giant crabs are clawing their way along the bottom of the Barents Sea are spreading like wildfire along the northern coasts of Russia and Norway and will continue to spread as far as Gibraltar, the southern tip of the European continent. How come? One female crab can lay 500,000 eggs at a time, of which one or two percent will become crabs. The kicker is that the species is protected by diplomatic accords between Norway and Russia, so fishing quotas are in place. From the article: "The Kamchatka crab, also known as the Alaskan or red king crab, was introduced into the Barents by the Soviets in the 1960s — some 30 years after a first, failed attempt by Stalin — in a bid to bolster Russia's food supplies. ... The crabs weigh up to 12 kilograms (26 pounds) and measure up to two meters (6.5 feet) from pincher to pincher. While they remain far from Europe's tourist beaches for the time being, their impact on the environment is already a major cause for concern in the Arctic"."

The solution

[ChowRiit]

Despite the fact it is suggested in jest above, the best solution to most pest problems normally IS a culinary one. These crabs are definately edible, crab is considered somewhat of a delicacy to many (personally, I'm not a fan, but there are loads who love it), so all you need is to agree to remove quoats on this particular animal, or some similar arrangement, between Norway and Russia (the most challenging part) and start to push crab meat as a new big seller in the area.

New Scientist have an article on the subject of eating through invading species, although you'll need a subscription to read it: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg187251 61.500.html [newscientist.com]

Desert?

[Threni]

Only according to someone who catches fish, not someone with any kind of credibility. I think you need some double-quotes in there:

Millions of King Crabs "Turn Sea to Desert"

Re:Unlikely to reach Gibraltar

[arivanov]

It will be the same old story as the Black Sea and the Rapana sea snail in the 1970-es. Or the Elodea water weed and the european riverways in the late 19th century. These were thought to be the doom of all sea and water life respectively. It did not happen.

Initially introduced species thrive and go through a growth explosion. After some time their growth drops and they stabilise at some level or even die out to a near extinction. There are multiple reasons for this. First of all nearly all introductions are done with a limited gene pool. If fresh blood is not introduced, problems from inbreeding will quickly erode the invaders advantage. For example the Rapana when introduced in the early 1970s in the Black Sea seamed invinsible. By mid 1990 it nearly disappeared.

Even if the invader "vitality" is not lowered by inbreeding, the ecosystem still balances itself. Diseases adapt to new targets. Predators adapt to new victims. Life goes on until a new equilibrium is reached. End of the day invaders usually wipe out only species with which they are in a direct competition and which occupy the same ecological niche. Off the top of my head I cannot think of anything which occupies the same niche in the Arctic. Further south they will have to fight it with the common lobster. This will definitely suffer.

Dunno, I have seen two such "doom" events in the Black Sea with the introduction of Rapana and Yellow Sea algae and they both came to pass. So will this if we do not poke it at the same time.

Crabs == oil

[SgtChaireBourne]

Research already showed that those guys are quite temperature-sensitive. It is rather unlikely that they will be able to leave the artic water and reach as far as Gibraltar.

It doesn't matter so much. For various reasons, including elevated water temperatures, fish stocks are gone from the sea quite far north. The crabs have been encroaching on the regions containing the last commericial stocks. Even Bergen and Trondheim, which were once great fishing ports, are dead and tropic species are occasionally sighted in the waters.

With the quotas preventing the harvesting of the crabs, they are spreading more widely and more rapidly at an accelerating pace. Eventually the population will level off, but not before the last of the fish stock is ruined. The crabs pretty much wipe all organic matter from the bottom, especially tasty fish eggs. Without the eggs, there are no new fish. Without the fish, no fishing. Without the fishing, there will be no monied interests hindering oil drilling in the Barents.

The Norwegians are in a hard place because of the oil and their ties to the petro dollar. They also can't risk pissing of the last western military power, Russia, over the oil either. They will eventually lose that game, unless they deal with the crabs. Open season and no catch limits on the crabs would give several enviromental and economic boosts to the region. They're quite good eating and can be sold for food, decimating them would help the fishing, but the crabs are just as good as materials for biofuels.

Re:Lower the quotas

[GundamFan]

PETA is always annoyed, so that isn't a problem.

Re:Unlikely to reach Gibraltar

[lee7guy]

Yeah, the aboriginals should have bashed the white devils heads in as soon as they sat foot on the "new" continent. The same goes for the native americans.