Free Republic

Angry green crabs from Nova Scotia, angrier than their already ornery green cousins in Maine, are migrating south. They have started to destroy the coastal ecosystem off the shores of Maine, as they eat more than their share of soft-shell clams and wreck native eel grass, according to research from Markus Frederich, a professor at the University of New England. "What we're seeing is this insane level of aggressiveness," Frederich told the Associated Press. -snip- Louis Logan, a University of New England graduate student, had the unpleasant task of labeling the crabs captured from Nova Scotia waters for the research....

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. In an effort to promote a day of service in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Commission on Racial/Ethnic Diversity (CORED) met yesterday to discuss a student-led initiative to cancel classes to commemorate the day. Mahmoud Alban, CORED student team co-chair, said many students face not having time to participate in service activities because of classes during Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr. Day. He added that service activities would benefit the entire community, including State College elementary and high school students, by breaking the stereotypes of college students and minorities....

The unusually paltry hauls that lobsterman Michael Marchetti began pulling from New England waters about three years ago were, he hoped, just temporary, a lingering effect of an oil spill that polluted southern New England waters in the mid-1990s. But his catch only got worse. Today, Marchetti and every lobsterman who fishes off southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island face an unexplained collapse of lobster stocks. A mysterious shell disease, warmer waters and overfishing are commonly cited causes for the nearly 50 percent drop in lobster landings in two years, but it's all still theory. The only certainty, Marchetti said, is...