Khmer Maine Green Crab Giveaway
“When you listen to communities of color, new markets, relationships, and opportunities open up.”
This quote comes from Tae Chong, Director of Multicultural Markets and Strategies at the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. A few months ago Tae reached out to us, hoping to work together to source green crabs for a giveaway as part of Khmer Maine’s Cambodian New Year’s celebration in Buxton.
Tae Chong, Director of Multicultural Markets and Strategies for the Maine State Chamber of Commerce
“As Director of Multicultural Markets and Strategies, I have been interviewing multicultural communities on food systems and seafood. The Cambodian community is critical to Maine’s seafood present and future. The average Maine resident consumes sixteen pounds of seafood, and the average Cambodian consumes ninety-three pounds of seafood. In my listening sessions, I discovered elderly Cambodian women eat green crabs which is an invasive species that affects our ecosystem including our oyster, lobster, and clams.”
For the event, we called harvesters across the state, hoping to source a total of 1250 lbs of hard shell green crabs to give away in 5 to 10 lbs packages to those attending the New Year’s celebration. The timing of the celebration in mid-April came just at the start of the green crab season, so we began calling harvesters across the state hoping to find a source for over a thousand pounds of hard-shell green crabs. Green crabs tend to hibernate in the winter and being so early in the season many harvesters were just landing a few crabs per trap.
Eventually we had a chance to connect with Michael Masi and Sam Sewall of Southern Maine Sustainable Shellfish, a duo based in York Maine who recently started molting soft-shell green crabs with New Hampshire Sea Grant. After setting a few test traps, Mike and Sam reported they were able to source enough green crabs for the event so they got to work and began setting as many traps as possible. Sam (who’s a full-time lobsterman in addition to fishing green crabs) remarked just how easy it is to harvest green crabs once the crabs are running.
Sam Sewall (left) and Mike Masi (right) of Southern Maine Sustainable Shellfish
“A trap will fill up completely after soaking for just a few hours and they’re a huge problem for the lobsters, eating the lobster’s food sources and even baby lobsters.” - Sam Sewall
Mike Masi also has first-hand experience witnessing the impact of green crabs on Maine shellfish. As a high-school science teacher, he spent years teaching students about the impact of the invasive and met Sam when he was a student in high school. The two have now launched a business centered on sustainable shellfish and are hoping to source both hardshell and eventually soft-shell green crabs to Maine businesses.
Upon arriving at the event in Buxton, Mike and Sam were certainly skeptical that they would go through the 1250 lbs of green crabs in just a few hours. We set up a table and displayed resources on the crab’s invasive impact and culinary background in Khmer translated by Khmer Maine. Within three and a half hours all of the green crabs had been claimed and Southern Maine Sustainable Shellfish had dozens of people asking for their information and inquiring about picking up future green crab orders.
Over the course of the celebration, we were treated to incredible food prepared by the Watt Samaki Temple kitchen, including a salted green crab papaya salad recipe that we’ll be sharing soon.
While cooking with invasive green crabs may seem to be a new phenomenon, New England Cambodian and South East Asian communities have been cooking with green crabs for decades. At this event, we learned that a handful of New England Cambodian seafood markets have been selling green crabs for years for use in sauces, soups, and broths. Utilizing translated resources from Khmer Maine, we hope to collaborate with these markets in the future and do a better job of accurately reflecting the full-extent of the green crab market in Maine and New England.
Salted Green Crab Papaya Salad prepared by the Watt Samaki Temple
Our biggest thanks to Khmer Maine and Tae Chong at the Maine State Chamber of Commerce for making this event possible and inviting us to the incredible celebration.
To learn more about Khmer Maine or contact Southern Maine Sustainable Shellfish:
Learn more about Khmer Maine
Contact Southern Maine Sustainable Shellfish: mmasi.smss@gmail.com
