Alaska Insight is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by viewers just like you.

Thank you.

Invasive species can harm local ecosystems.

One Alaska community has a unique way of working to eradicate an aquatic invasive.

Hosting a community hunt for them.

This would be a prime opportunity to catch a lot of adult crayfish because it's the breeding season and so all the adults are up and about.

How large is the problem of invasive plants and animals in Alaska?

And what can all Alaskans do to help stop their advance?

We'll discuss it right now on Alaska Insight.

Invasive species can disrupt or in some cases, destroy habitat and food supplies for native animals and plants.

And that can ripple out to affect others in the ecosystem.

As the climate changes, certain animals and plants are moving north.

Invasives also arrive in cargo boats and truck shipments.

We'll hear about a specific project to combat one invasive, and learn about how the state is monitoring and working to to control others.

But before we get to that discussion, here are some of the top stories of the week from Alaska Public Media's collaborative statewide news network.

U.S.

Senator Lisa Murkowski criticized President Trump during a telephone town hall on Wednesday for dismissing thousands of federal employees, and said Congress needs to call him out when he violates his constitutional limits.

Murkowski specifically pointed to the president's pauses and cancellation of federal funds that were already approved and appropriated by Congress as violating the impoundment Act, but said, excuse me, but said If Trump is going to be held to the Constitution, more of her colleagues will need to join her.

Representative Nick Begich, the Third, told the Alaska Legislature Thursday that the state has become too dependent on federal spending.

The comments came during Begich, his first address to state lawmakers, as Alaskans reckon with the effects of the president's funding freezes and mass firings.

That gets delivered a very different message than the state's congressional delegation has in prior legislative addresses.

Instead of trumpeting the dollars he steered to Alaska, Begich explained why money previously appropriated for the state by Congress isn't flowing.

Begich called the government's current current level of spending unsustainable.

Just days after House Republicans released a budget plan that would add roughly $3 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade, the representative encouraged anyone affected by cuts or layoffs to reach out to his office.

Race officials for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race say it will not start, and it will now start in Fairbanks, not Willow, due to a lack of snow.

The last minute change came Monday, following alarms raised by some mushers over the weekend, who said stretches of the trail were not safe for their teams.

The parade, like ceremonial start for the race, will still take place in Anchorage on Saturday, March 1st.

Two days later, the 33 teams will officially start the race out of Fairbanks.

This is the fourth time the Iditarod will start from Fairbanks.

Teams last raced out of the interior city in 2017 due to poor trail conditions through the Alaska Range.

You can find the full version of these and many more stories on our website.

Alaskapublic.org or download the Alaska Public Media app on your phone.

Now onto our discussion for this evening.

As Alaska's climate changes, invasive species are becoming more common and in many cases more concerning.

Across the state, communities are grappling with the way these new species affect local populations, food systems and even the economy.

In Kodiak, a local lake is now home to an invasive signal crayfish that threatens local salmon.

But as CBC's Brian Benwell reports, the community and biologists are looking at creative solutions to keep the population down.

Kodiak's Buckskin Lake and River are usually quiet salmon fishing spots from over there.

But on September 21st, 2024, dozens of people walk around the water looking for crayfish.

Caitlin McDermott came with her spouse and two sons.

She says she had to balance catching crayfish with catching her kids.

It's kind of the same thing a little bit.

I was like, once you see them and then you're.

Then they disappear and they're super fast.

Good day.

It's her family's first time coming to one of these derbies.

I only got two and they were okay.

They weren't super big, but they were still pretty good size.

Altogether, volunteers pulled hundreds of crayfish out of the water.

What do you think?

Do you know what that one is?

The Kodiak community has been trying to control the population by holding derbies like this one since 2020.

It's getting chipped.

Crayfish were first found in the river about 20 years ago, though it's unclear exactly how or why they were introduced.

But they've long been suspected to have an impact on the native salmon population.

It's a signal crayfish can have kind of a variety of invasive traits.

Daniel Smith is a biologist with the Chinook tribe of Kodiak and is working on his doctorate degree, studying the crayfish as impact in the area.

The project is specifically looking at the population dynamics of signal crayfish on the Muskie River watershed, and the ecological and functional role of signal crayfish, and the direct and indirect effects on the salmon.

He's trying to get a better idea of where the crayfish are, what they eat, and how they fit into the bigger picture of the ecosystem.

And what we're seeing from the data is that they're basically homebodies in the areas that we had originally tagged them and rereleased them, too, which is really good for us because we don't want this invasive species to migrate.

Smith says one problem is that crayfish eat salmon carcasses after they've spawned.

That removes nutrients that the fish bring back from the ocean, which normally flow through the water system and benefits the ecosystem.

You're the Chinook Tribe's natural resources director Matt Bendall says they hosted a fall derby to catch the crayfish when they're most active.

This would be a prime opportunity to catch a lot of adult crayfish because the breeding season and so all the adults are up and about, and turning the day into a big event keeps the community invested in keeping crayfish populations down.

Because grants will dry up, people will begin to lose interest.

So how can we keep public interest?

We have to keep everybody's eyes on the ball of dealing with this.

Bendall says the tribe's current grant to manage the crayfish population includes considering long term control and sustainability plans.

For McDermott and her kids.

They're just excited to be part of it and learn from more experienced crayfish wranglers.

I can tell a lot are some of the kids have been out here quite a few times this.

They were like, oh, I know how to handle them.

They have the gloves and everything.

I said, see, they're well prepared.

They know what they're doing.

She says she hopes to bring her family back to another derby someday.

For now, there's still plenty in the water along the upper buckskin River.

I'm Brian Vanua.

Joining me tonight to discuss how big of a problem invasive species are in Alaska and what's being done to combat them.

Is Daniel Smith.

Daniel is the Chinook tribe of Kodiak biologist, and Tammy Davis is the invasive species program coordinator for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Welcome, both of you.

Thanks so much for being on tonight.

Daniel, I the video that we just saw was a great look at, trying to keep the population of this signal crayfish down, but it really begs the question, what do you do with them once they're caught?

Yeah.

So we could do a variety of things, at these public derbies that we put on.

We could either encourage people to harvest them.

Currently, underneath the state regulations, there are no transport of live signal crayfish away from the watershed.

And so all the crayfish that are caught either need to be killed on site or boiled.

So that's one strategy.

We can also, encourage people to, give us their catch.

Since we're doing a population dynamics assessment.

So we're looking at different morphometric traits to better understand what kinds of crayfish are in, the watershed, whether there would be adults, juveniles, different sexes and whatnot.

And so that's what we're telling people, going forward.

And in the past, there was a community boil of the signal crayfish, what do they taste like?

And who first came up with the idea of eating this inv Yeah, that's a good question.

You know, the signal crayfish?

They taste somewhat like a shrimp.

And, you know, they're very tasty.

From some people that have eaten, more of the Louisiana red swamp crayfish, the crayfish that are up here in Kodiak, actually taste, a very, a lot better.

And so, there's definitely that ability there.

We started doing derbies back in 2022 and our first derby, we did a large boil event, which was probably the most well attended.

And so my coworker, Matt Van Dale, natural resources director with the Schumacher tribe, was the first one to come up with that strategy.

And it has been very productive.

When you catch them, people can take them home, but only if they're dead.

Why can't they put them in a cooler to keep them alive until they boil them at home?

Yeah.

So, the intent of that regulation was to limit, accidental or intentional spread of the signal crayfish outside of the Buscan River watershed.

Currently, they're confined only to the main stem, Buscan River and Buscan Lake.

And based on the reports that we received, there were no confirmed reports of signal crayfish outside of this river.

We've been doing some, more updated technologies by looking at DNA of signal crayfish in other areas.

And so far we have not gotten any positive hits of signal crayfish outside of the watershed.

All right.

Thank you so much for getting us started.

Danielle.

Tammy, I want to turn to you now.

Thanks for your patience.

Before we talk about European green crabs, because I, I know that they're a big concern.

Tell us about the list.

The state has of banned invasive species that we're trying to keep out of the state.

When did that list get started and what should people know about it?

Yeah.

There are, I can't tell you the exact number of species that are listed.

But they are, the species that are listed are known to have invasive or harmful impacts in areas similar to Alaska, which is why they're added to that list.

The, initial, regulation went into effect.

And and it only prohibited, any life stage of the listed organisms.

And as Daniel and you were talking about, recently, in the last several years, the Board of Fisheries amended the banned invasive species list to allow consumption and retention of some species once they're dead.

And as Daniel mentioned, the purpose of those regulations are to prevent the spread of, of species.

And yeah.

And accidental or intentional.

Make sense?

European green crabs in marine waters and the dry scented mussel.

Interesting name in freshwater are invasives of big concern.

What's known about how and when they first arrived in Alaska.

And what do they damage?

Europe.

Well, I'll start by saying so dry Senate mussels are, commonly known as zebra mussels or quagga mussels.

And, for Alaska residents who hail from the Midwest, they probably have heard of them primarily as zebra mussels.

Quagga mussels are a little more common, in warmer waters and deeper waters.

Thankfully, those are not here.

They have not been found in Alaska yet.

But the the European green crab is definitely here.

Correct.

Initially found, in waters of the Annette Islands reserve in 2020 to August of 2022.

And since then, confirmed in waters outside of the the Katla Indian tribal lands around Ketchikan.

So population confirmed in Bostwick Inlet which is adjacent to catch can.

But we have pretty good, evidence that the green crab have spread to areas even further north than, Ketchikan, but all in southern southeast so far.

I was surprised to hear in an earlier interview with you that green crabs have been on the East Coast for centuries.

Are they considered a native species there now, or are they still disruptive?

Yeah, that you could kind of get to a key point of invasion, philosophy and biology, which is at what point does, something that has been introduced become considered native?

I won't go into any of those details.

They are still considered invasive and there is still effort on the East Coast to remove populations.

Once green crab are present, you can't, prevent them from moving around because they spread, by larvae in the, ocean currents.

And, it's pretty hard to eradicate them.

There aren't any successful examples of that.

They've failed in some areas where they've been introduced.

But, intentional eradication has not been successful.

Somehow they made their way to the West Coast, right, in California in the 90s.

And then have they just advanced up the coast since the 90s?

Yeah, exactly.

They just marched right up to, you know, Central California, Oregon, Washington, coastal, coastal invasions there and then up into, the outer coast of Vancouver Island of British Columbia and even up into Haida Gwaii.

And then in the 19 late, like 2018, they were found within the Salish Sea, which is sort of inside waters of Washington and, because of the important habitat there and the shellfish industry, aquaculture industry, Washington took significant action there.

Their governor actually, had an emergency proclamation and their legislature allocated $12 million.

So they've accomplished a lot.

Do people eat them?

European green crabs.

Are they edible?

They are edible.

There is a cookbook out there if you're interested.

They're very small.

They're approximately four inches across, an adult.

And that means there's not very much meat in a crab.

And so, you would have to collect a lot of crabs to get a meal out of them, especially, you know, we live where Dungeness and other, king crab are available.

So you get a lot of food out of one crab compared to what you would get out of a green crab.

Good incentive to go out and get a whole bunch of those green crabs and to make a meal.

Daniel, I want to turn back to you.

A dead signal.

Crayfish was first spotted in the Busan River about 20 years ago.

Describe when you then started seeing live ones, and when those control efforts really started to ramp up.

Yeah.

So the first single crayfish, carapace was found in 2002.

And the initial surveys, were conducted shortly thereafter, by some technicians and fish and game including my previous coworker or my current coworker, at Vandal.

When they attempted to trap some signal crayfish right at the the mouth of the Buscan Lake at the outlet location, and they were largely unsuccessful.

They didn't capture any.

And so from that point forward, they thought it was just, you know, an incidental kind of thing.

Wasn't really going to stem off to what we are, you know, today.

But in 2012, there was the first breeding female of signal crayfish that was found right at the Basking Lake outlet.

And this indicated that, you know, a breeding population was present.

And so, from there, this is when she eunuch tribe of Kodiak, as well as some of our local NGOs such as the Kodiak Soil and Water Conservation District, we launched a two year grant study to survey the population to see kind of the extent or range within Basking Lake, and then whatever crayfish that we would find, this is when we would kill them and sample them from the same morphometrics as we currently do today.

And this is in 2018 through now, present day, we're really seeing the results of our control efforts on this population.

The over the last 2 or 3 years, we're seeing noticeable reductions in the amount of signal crayfish that we're pulling from these high, originally high density locations.

And, you know, going forward, we're just looking for a strategy.

And as Brian had mentioned in the previous interview, earlier on this show, we're looking at a management strategy going forward in order to, to sustain this control efforts, whether that would be through more community involvement, which has been probably one of our most successful stories, with trying to eliminate, or at least suppress this population, since we're probably never going to be fully eradicating the signal crayfish, just based on the various life history traits of signal crayfish, they're very good at avoiding predators.

They're borrowers.

And so a lot of these, methods that we use, such as, you know, rock flipping, scuba snorkeling, trapping for these crayfish, you're never going to fully get all of them.

And so right now we're trying to see a strategy in order to minimize the signal crayfish population to a point of functional eradication, in which the, you're not truly eradicating all of the crayfish, but just, eliminating or lessening the extent of the impact that they have on your species of concern.

And in our case, this would be our salmon resources in the bass skin, and particularly our sockeye salmon and coho salmon, which has been really on a noticeable decline over the last 20 plus years.

And so going forward, we just need to sustain this level of control so that the effects are minimized going forward.

Are there other invasive plants or animals that you're monitoring that have made their way to Kodiak?

Yeah.

So right now this unique tribe is really interested in our crayfish, in the buscan.

But some that are on the horizon as Tammy had mentioned.

One of them is obviously the European green crab.

Just based on some previous literature that I'm, have looked at, the really kind of broadcast forward, their range up north with climate change, enduring, events like El Nino events where some of the lava could spread, you know, at a higher rate up towards the Gulf.

And so this is definitely something that we need to keep our eyes on in the future by developing more of a, you know, collaborative effort, of, you know, trapping for these green crab, at least to see if they're present.

They're probably not present.

Right now, but who knows?

Just based on, some of these, these, warming events that we're seeing.

Another one is a loda.

Is is a big one that has not been currently, established here in Kodiak.

But that is something that's, definitely on our forefront of our minds going forward.

Thank you.

Tammy, turning back to you, what about land based invasives, plants, animals, bugs?

What are the concerning invasive plants and what's known about how they're getting here?

Fishing game doesn't have jurisdiction for terrestrial plants.

That falls under the Department of Natural Resources.

So, I know a little bit about those things, but that's not really my area of expertise.

That's fine.

Does the state have any oversight?

You there's the invasive, the banned invasive invasives list, but can the state, have more authority about, checking what's coming in across the border in vehicles and on vessels and how robust is the program of making sure these things are stopped at the borders?

Well, I can tell you, the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service has a, watercraft inspection station at the Alcan border.

That's the main point of entry into Alaska overland.

So people hauling their watercraft into Alaska, will go through that, inspection station, and the boat will be looked at to see if there's any, any potential invasive species on the trailer attached to the boat, like dress and, and mussels might be, a loading might be tag line tagging along.

There might be seeds, within the carpet.

Within the within the boat.

Inside the boat or in compartments.

And I know and I know this just because I assisted, during a pilot, at the, at the border that, DNR does do, some operations at the border where they're looking at everything plants, animals, everything that comes through there.

They're looking for especially listed species.

So the anything on the noxious, not just weed list or any of the, federally listed species.

Then you'll talk a little bit about how the signal crayfish eats the carcasses of the salmon and that, you know, takes away nutrients for other species.

Talk just for a minute about the the ripple effect of invasives and, and how they directly impact one species.

But maybe that also affects many others.

Yeah, that's that's very true.

So for example, with the European green crab, you know, there are efficient predators and their ecosystem engineers, they, search for food in eelgrass beds.

And eelgrass is really important.

And in coastal, ecosystems, it's a key keystone component of a healthy subtitle, an intertidal ecosystem.

It provides substrate and cover for many native fish and invertebrates salmon, herring, Dungeness crab, and other invertebrates that are important both to humans for food, but also for the ecosystem.

And, when green crabs get into that eelgrass, they clip the, the fronds of the grass.

So sort of mowing it down, but also they dig up looking for food in the bentos in the seabed, and they dig up the roots and shoots.

And that can have a pretty significant impact on that, those, those nursery areas.

So when the eelgrass beds are destroyed, that means that that nursery area for the fish and invertebrates is now gone and it causes shifts in other species.

And, you know, there are stressors, other stressors than, than invasive species on many of the, native species that are important to Alaskans and invasive species just pose another threat to those species.

Absolutely.

Well, thank you both so much for this time went by so fast, and I appreciate both of you, spending time with us this evening and also helping us better understand, what all Alaskans need to know about these things so we can all sort of help combat them.

Thank you so much.

Invasive plants and animals can greatly damage ecosystem.

Some, like crayfish, can be eaten or invasive plants can be ripped out, as I do when chop cherry trees sprout in my yard.

Educate yourself about local native plants and be careful with purchase plants and what you introduce in your landscaping.

And by all means, don't toss your goldfish in a nearby lake.

That's it for this edition of Alaska Insight, visit our website Alaskapublic.org for breaking news and reports from our partner stations across the state.

While you're there, sign up for our free daily digest so you won't miss any of Alaska's top stories of the day.

Thanks for joining us this evening.

I'm Lori Townsend.

Good night.