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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"."
And it involves lot of butter ...
I know that it is controversial with some dieticians, but I have had great success in keeping off the weight with the low-crab diet.
Lower the quotas, bring in a Red Lobster chain in Russia and Norway and problem solved. I hope.
Fighting over religion is like seeing whose imaginary friend is best.
Russia has a raging case of crabs!
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
They should take a cue from Ancient Japan and flip them over and attack its weak point for MASSIVE DAMAGE.
I guess the guy was selling them weapons to kill all the sealife!
Yuri Orlov is the guy from Lord Of War
-- Sig: What sig? Oh, you mean this one? Nah...
In Soviet Russia, crabs get you.
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
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.
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.
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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/mg18725
This is just another entry in the long list of 'we probably shouldn't have introduced this species into this environment' stories. Kind of like introducing Rabbits into New Zealand, or Foxes into Australia, or a myriad of other examples. They end up thriving and taking over, to the detriment of the various species that were already there.
But Marine Biologists are Nerds too! ...or at the very least, I'm a Nerdy Marine Biologist you insensitive clod!
-Queen of the Kung-Fu fairies
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"
True nerds watch the Discovery channel. They did a whole thing on Alaskan crab fisherman the past 2 years. YOu catch crabs in metal pots.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
The crabs weigh up to 12 kilograms (26 pounds) and measure up to two meters (6.5 feet) from pincher to pincher.
-and this increases every time the story is told.
sudo ergo sum
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.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
Corrected: Millions of king crabs turn sea to dessert
Today's secret ingredient is: *dramatic pause* *dramatic pose* CRAB INFESTATION!
It was a joke! When you give me that look it was a joke.
Crab traps are known as "pots" - it's a technical term, and yes, mostly they're made of metal.
The Discovery Channel had a wonderful show on last season about these very crabs called The Deadliest Catch. It was definitely worth watching.
So what do the other 98% of the eggs become, if not crabs?
Don't knock the Australian rabbit plague. Got rid of all that damned Trix cereal, yes it did.
Where were you when the voynix came?
Actually, cages or baskets. They're called crab pots, but they aren't actually pots.
You can do this yourself off the coast of many places in the U.S.; all you need is a) a boat (a small boat will do, such as a speedboat); b) an open-topped cage or metal basket; and c) chum (fish heads, fish guts). The fish heads/guts go into the 'pots', usually on hooks so they don't come loose. The pots are attached to ropes (anything that doesn't rot), and the ropes are attached to small buoys. You lay a dozen or so pots at a time; by the time you've put down the last one you're ready to go back to the first, which you can easily spot care of the brightly-colored buoy.
So you zip on back and begin hauling on the rope as fast as you can. You do this because at this point any crab within smelling distance of the chum has crawled into the pot to eat the fish guts and gets a bit upset if the pot starts rising through the water. By pulling up the rope quickly you use the pressure of the water to keep the crab from climbing out of the pot. Keep this up until the pot surfaces, bring it into the boat, and pick out the crabs you want to eat. Throw everything else back. Repeat this process for the next ten or eleven lines. If you want A LOT of crabs and you don't have a small limit you can lay the pot again as soon as you empty it, then play round-robin until you get tired.
This is the recreational way of crabbing. The commercial way is generally far more efficient. Both result in good eating.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
No nutria. Just beef, pork, chicken, turkey, and seafood.
I get hungry when I visit the zoo. Tasting is prohibited I think.
I'd agree with you, the first couple winters of the mussel invasion of Green Bay we had massive beaches (6 feet high drifts for 30 feet out) of dead and rotting mussels. But before that we had a lot of big freshwater clams...which are now gone. To me it looks like the mussels killed off the native clams, then died down to a level equivalent to the original clams somehow, either by body volume or nutrition requirements. The mussels are still there and will cut your feet if you swim barefoot. The water is also much clearer and the familiar giant mats of green muck are gone. Fish still seem to be around, but I never fished and don't know if it's worse. Overall it did improve the bay for boating and shore activities...it used to be a browny-green opaque soup but now it's sparkling blue.
C'mon, he's on Slashdot and quoting Zoidberg's line about his inability to get laid. You probably don't need to ask that question.
"No fair, you changed the outcome by measuring it!" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth