Think 85,000 invasive crabs is a lot? Wait 'til you see Vancouver Island

While 85,000 invasive green crabs—a record number—were captured near Bellingham last year, even more of the voracious crustaceans have turned up just across Washington’s watery border with Canada.

Since mid-November, trappers have scooped up more than 107,000 European green crabs in Clayoquot Sound, the traditional territories of the Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht First Nations, on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

“It's incredible how much green crab are being pulled up, way too many for our liking,” said Councilmember Terry Dorward of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation in Tofino, British Columbia.

“There's hundreds of thousands of these green crabs. It should be a national outcry here, up in Canada,” Dorward said.

Like their Native American counterparts south of the border, First Nations officials on Vancouver Island say the crab infestation threatens their way of life.