Monday June 23, 2025
CBC —
If you’ve spent much time wandering along B.C.’s coast, chances are you’ve seen a Dungeness crab crawling sideways across the shoreline — or at least one of its colourful carcasses leftover in the sand.
The cold water crustaceans are the second-most valuable invertebrate fishery on the West Coast of Canada and an important food source for coastal First Nations, but researchers warn they may now be facing some threats.
Lauren Krzus, a research technician at the Hakai Institute, says they’re hearing anecdotally that Dungeness crab stocks are declining, and says climate change is poised to further impact them.
She’s three years into a 10-year research project with Hakai coastal ecologist Heather Earle, studying the crab’s populations from Prince Rupert down to the southern point of B.C.’s coastline.