Marshlands in Cape Cod are diminishing says NSF due to purple marsh crabs. The purple crabs are eating away at the lush Marsh because their main predators, blue crab and fin-fish are being over fished, causing the population of purple marsh crabs to greatly increase. The crabs eat all the green grass of the marshes leaving just lumps of mud. The marshes are not just there for looks they serve many other purposes to the environment like they nourish many plants and other animals, filter nutrients, and are a critical storm barrier. People like Mark Burtness, marine ecologist of Brown University tie the the crabs to sticks stuck in the mud so predators can go right away and eat them as they please. He also traps blue crabs to see how many there are in an area.
Crabs are a crustacean that are covered with a thick exoskeleton and have a pair of claws and 8 legs. Crabs are found all over the world. There are fresh water and salt water crabs. All crabs live near water. They can range in size from a millimeter small to 13ft, but most are small. There are about 850 species of crabs worldwide. Crabs walk sideways not forward like most animals. Marshes are wetlands frequently or continually supplied with water, either fresh or salt water. Marshes are shallow and have a lot of grass growing. They are very nutrient filled, and support a lot of wildlife. They are found all over America.
I think this event is sad, how the marshes are being ruined, all because of fishing. If people didn't fish the purple crabs so often then this wouldn't be a problem any longer. There should be a law where you cant over fish a certain area, like post that is area shouldn't be fished until the population of all the predators come back up. I wonder if they can make a law of that.
