[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 107 (Wednesday, June 4, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33522-33524]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-13995]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Availability of a Draft National Management Plan for the European
Green Crab
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of document availability and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of a draft Management
Plan for the European Green Crab, Carcinus maenas, for public review
and comment. Comments received will be considered in preparing the
final Management Plan for C. maenas, which will become the basis for
cooperative and integrated management of the European Green Crab, C.
maenas, with the involvement of Federal, State, Tribal, and local
resource agencies.
DATES: Comments on the draft Management Plan for the European Green
Crab should be received by July 31, 2003.
ADDRESSES: Mail written responses and requests for copies of the draft
management plan to Fred Kern, Chair, Green Crab Control Working Group,
NOAA National Ocean Service, Cooperative Oxford Laboratory, 904 South
Morris Street, Oxford, MD 21654. The draft Management Plan for the
European Green Crab is also available on the ANS Task Force Web site
(http://www.anstaskforce.gov). You may also request copies of the draft
plan by calling or writing the person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Fred Kern, Chair, Green Crab Control
Working Group, at 410-226-5193 or by e-mail at fred.kern@noaa.gov or
Sharon Gross, Executive Secretary, Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force
at 703-358-2308 or by e-mail at sharon_gross@fws.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The European green crab, Carcinus maenas, is
one of the most ecologically and economically damaging predators in
nearshore coastal communities of both eastern and western North
America. Native of northern Europe, green crabs colonized eastern North
America in the early 19th century and now occur abundantly from Nova
Scotia to Maryland. In contrast, green crabs are a recent arrival to
western North America, where they successfully colonized San Francisco
Bay, CA, in 1989-90. Their impacts on both natural ecosystems and
commercial fisheries are well
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established, as is their ability to rapidly expand their range.
The western North America invasion has undergone a rapid range
expansion, with green crabs expanding their range by more than 750 km
in less than ten years since their initial invasion. Green crabs are
now firmly established in every significant bay and estuary from
Monterey Bay, CA, to Gray's Harbor, WA, and have the potential become
established from the Gulf of Alaska to Baja, California. The uniformity
of the green crab distribution strongly suggests that green crabs can
rapidly expand their range once they are established. In 2000 they
continued to expand their northern range in eastern North America by
invading the Gulf of St. Lawrence at Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Green crabs are both eurythermic and eurohaline and can survive a
temperature range from freezing to 30 [deg]C while utilizing a broad
range of habitat types. They exploit a wide range of prey types,
including molluscs (clams and snails), crustaceans, annelids, fish, and
algae. Several native species have declined significantly as a direct
result of green crab predation in western North America. Green crabs
have had substantial impacts on some commercially important clam
species, Mya arenaria, and Mercenaria mercenaria, and on the scallop
species, Argopecten irradians. Green crab predation in invaded
communities may indirectly affect feeding rates and foraging efficiency
of shorebirds.
Recognizing the ecological and economic impacts, as well as
expanding geographic range of the green crabs in North America,
Carcinus maenas was the first marine organism to be designated as an
aquatic nuisance species in 1998 by the Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS)
Task Force. In 2000, the Green Crab Control Working Group was appointed
by the ANS Task Force to develop a Management Plan. The management
strategies available in the plan to limit the impact of the European
green crab, as well as that of other invaders, include a combination of
prevention, eradication, and control measures. This plan is the result
of several years of planning and research and has identified the
following management options for prevention, eradication, and control
of Carcinus maenas in the United States:
[sbull] Prevention and Containment
[sbull] Detection and Forecasting
[sbull] Eradiction, Control, and Mitigation
[sbull] Information Access and Data Management
Prevention and Containment
This option provides a detailed description of the priority
activities that the Working Group has identified to prevent further
spread of the green crab. The goals of prevention and containment are
to:
[sbull] Identify pathways of invasion and quantify the risk of each
pathway; and
[sbull] Identify management options available for reducing the risk
associated with each pathway.
The Management Plan also discusses the types of information needed
to accomplish this management option, as well as the strategies that
may be most effective.
Detection and Forecasting
This option provides a detailed description of the priority
activities to be undertaken as soon as possible to implement a
comprehensive program to detect new invasions and range expansions of
the European green crab and to forecast pollution irruptions at invaded
sites. The goals for this option are to do the following:
[sbull] Outline specific procedures for detecting the presence of
juvenile green crabs in previously uninvaded areas. This will provide
an ``early warning'' of new invasions and provide additional time for
restricting activities that would potentially delay further spread. It
also allows time to develop local education/outreach efforts or other
activities aimed at heightening public awareness in order to minimize
the probability of unintentional movement of green crabs;
[sbull] Track the approximate abundances of green crab populations
in previously invaded areas to allow forecasting of ``outbreak'' years.
The ecological and economic impacts of green crabs are directly related
to their abundance, so if outbreak years can be forecasted, this would
provide an important warning for resource managers, production
fisheries, aquaculture, and others that may be negatively affected by a
large year class of green crabs. This would also provide additional
time to jumpstart necessary management activities, and increase
education and outreach efforts that might ameliorate the impacts of
these species in years of high abundance;
[sbull] Monitor uninvaded areas to detect new invasions and range
expansions. This would most effectively be accomplished by detecting
the presence of postlarval green crabs and/or the presence of young-of-
the-year (YOY) juvenile green crabs. To detect the presence of green
crab postlarvae, biweekly to monthly sampling between April and June
would be involved. Postlarvae can be sampled by deploying bag
collectors attached to docks, moorings, and buoys at replicate sites in
harbors and bays. Bags are exchanged at the desired interval, and
collected organisms are rinsed off the collectors, sorted, preserved,
and counted. Young-of-the-year (YOY) juvenile green crabs are best
sampled by deploying baited minnow traps in intertidal areas at
replicate sites in harbors and bays in August and September; and
[sbull] Monitor invaded areas to forecast ``outbreak'' years. This
is most effectively accomplished through monitoring the abundance of
postlarval green crabs, including juvenile as well as adult crab
populations.
Eradication, Control, and Mitigation
The Management Plan has identified and discussed various actions
for this option. These actions are dependent upon the data, population
abundance, and control tools currently available. Just as crab
abundance differs by location, so too may the tools available for
controlling the population be different. For example, early detection
of new invasions may permit successful rapid response and extirpation
at a local level. Small populations with no local recruitment may be
easy to eradicate by selective harvest, chemical control, biological
control, or genetic control measures, while population established with
local recruitment may need control and containment in addition to
selective harvest, chemical control, biological control, or genetic
control measures. However, if the invasion has proceeded to the point
that achieving population control on a broad scale is either perceived
to be insurmountable or is not presently being addressed, mitigative
control measures may be used in concert with broader regional or local
control. Cooperative research on the seasonal dynamic of green crab
recruitment and predation, along with field tests on the efficacy of
various mitigation measures, should be conducted in those areas where
green crab are abundant.
Information Access and Data Management
The objective for this component of the management plan is to share
the information source(s) and data management needed to efficiently
implement the national management plan. The objectives for this
component of the plan are to:
[sbull] Provide current information on the research and management
activities being conducted under the plan;
[sbull] describe standardized research and management protocols
that allow others
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to participate and contribute to full implementation of the plan;
[sbull] sustain a current synthesis of regional, national, and
international results in the areas of research and management
activities;
[sbull] create a directory of relevant contacts, activities, and
information in support of the plan at the local, state, and regional
levels; and
[sbull] develop educational outreach components in support of the
plan.
The following three elements are discussed in detail in the
Management Plan to meet the objectives for this component: (1) A system
for information management and dissemination, (2) an advisory committee
to guide development of the information system, and (3) a core group of
scientists to provide syntheses of current research and management
information. The implementation section of the plan has identified
possible funding source(s), lead organization(s), and estimated cost to
implement each task element identified and discussed in the plan.
This document was prepared by the Green Crab Control Working Group
of the ANS Task Force, as authorized by section 4722(c) of the
Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990 (16
U.S.C. 4701 et seq.).
Dated: May 7, 2003.
Everett Wilson,
Acting Co-Chair, Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force, Acting Assistant
Director--Fisheries and Habitat Conservation.
[FR Doc. 03-13995 Filed 6-3-03; 8:45 am]
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