Fisheries have economic importance as a source of valuable commercial trade, direct and indirect employment, and natural resource dollars. Fishery managers have long sought guidance about the rise and fall of fisheries. Blue crabs in Long Island Sound give insight into relationship between climate and energy and the change of our fisheries. 

Blue crabs surged in Connecticut waters from 1906 to 1912. However, by 1924, Connecticut fishery managers wrote about possible species extirpation in our waters. After 1972 blue crab populations rebounded and could be found in densities that rivaled those a century ago. Then after the bitter cold winters of 2015 and 2016, the blue crabs never arrived.

What can we learn from these blue crab population changes? What causes these cycles? What does habitat history tell us that could explain these changes? 

Tim Visel, Aquaculture Center Coordinator at the Sound School in New Haven, has spent decades studying the animals in Long Island Sound. Join us at the Sound School to hear what Tim has learned about from the blue crabs of Long Island Sound. Tim’s presentation will include a PowerPoint show and a table demonstration with live crabs.

Attendance limit: 30. Register now.