New England is battling invasive green crabs by eating the destructive species in fancy dishes

Since time immemorial, humans have been consuming food derived from the land, air and water. From vegetables and birds to even crabs, there is not much we have not used to survive on. But currently, people in New England are feasting on green crabs not to survive themselves but to help the native species subsist. Every morning in Maine's York River, fishers look for the region's most despised crabs and find few that end up on someone's plate, according to a report by AP.The trick is to identify invasive European green crabs that are about to shed their hard shell or moult, revealing a softer exterior that has the feel of a leather couch and is in demand at restaurants. Not only do these crabs fetch more money, $3 per crab at the market, but catching them is also doing a service for the ocean's ecosystem. “Just about everyone hates them, and we’re trying to turn them into a premium seafood product,” said Mike Masi, whose company, shell+claw, is the only one that commercially cultivates these crabs.Masi, a 45-year-old former marine science teacher is a part of the growing movement across New England aiming to lessen the crabs' destructive impact by developing new markets. Others are ...