Dungeness Crab Lemon Basil Pasta

Dungeness Crab Lemon Basil Pasta

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

1 lb package of spaghetti

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

6-8 cloves chopped garlic

½ cup fresh basil, chopped

1 cup cherry tomatoes

pinch of salt and pepper

½ fresh Dungeness crab meat (substitute with pre-cooked shrimp/prawns)

1 lemon, quartered

Directions:

Cook spaghetti in salted water until al dente (tender but firm).  Drain pasta and set aside.  Add olive oil and butter to a medium sauce pan on medium high heat until butter has melted.  Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds to soften them up.  Remove pan from heat.  Add pasta noodles to the pan and toss the spaghetti until each strand has been coated with the garlic sauce.  Add tomatoes, chopped basil, salt, pepper and gently toss.  Divide the crab meat according to how many servings you are making.  Place the individual portion of the lump meat and place it on top of each mound of spaghetti.  Squeeze one lemon quarter over the top of the crab meat and pasta just before serving.  Enjoy!

Human activities, climate changes affect marine populations

A commercial fisher hoists aboard a crab trap with a meager catch. Although catches are highly variable, most fisheries managers believe the Dungeness crab population is healthy.

In another dramatic decline, catches of the commercially harvested Dunge-ness crab near San Francisco collapsed from 12 million pounds to less than a million pounds in the late 1950s, just after the major El Niño of 1957–1958. Several explanations have been proposed, among them a permanent shift in ocean conditions. The cause of the decline is still not known with certainty.

Further north, in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, Dungeness crab catches go through regular cycles of about 10 years. Since the late 1970s, research has focused on the causes of the cycles, so that they might be managed to avoid these boom-and-bust cycles. Groups at UC Davis and Humboldt State University used mathematical models combined with field data to show how the negative influences of adult crabs on recruitment of juveniles (including cannibalism of adults on newly settled juveniles and density-dependent fecundity) could contribute to these cycles.

Research since the mid-1980s has indicated that annual variability in the way currents transport the planktonic larvae of crabs and other species also has a critical effect on their population booms and busts. Data from Russian plankton cruises off the California coast indicate that Dungeness crab larvae disperse several hundred kilometers offshore, but may be transported back toward suitable nearshore habitat by migrating vertically between layers of water flowing in different directions. Modeling studies have shown that the timing of egg hatching and larval release into the plankton relative to the timing of the “spring transition” to the upwelling season also has a critical effect on the number of Dungeness crab larvae that successfully return to near shore. Other modeling studies of the Dungeness crab subpopulations from Northern California to Washington have shown that the patterns of larval dispersal between subpopulations can have a critical effect on whether populations cycle and how synchronous these cycles are along the coast (Botsford et al. 1994).

http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.org/landingpage.cfm?article=ca.v051n04p36&fulltext=yes

Union Square Celebrity Crab Festival

Sports fans, foodies, and fish lovers will all be doing the crab crawl over to Union Square on February 28, to cheer on the San Francisco 49ers and local chefs at the Annual Celebrity Crab Crack-Off and Festival. This event pits teams of local chefs against the San Francisco 49ers to fight for the title of fastest crab crackers in the West.

Don’t worry, participating Union Square restaurants will have plenty of Dungeness crab creations available for drooling onlookers at a minimal sampling fee. (Hot Dogs are an option for little fish haters.) Wash down your crustaceans at the Wine and Beer Garden. Then enjoy the afternoon of live entertainment, including music from Diego’s Umbrella, a children’s booth and family activities.

Tickets for food, beer and wine tastings are $5 each or 6 for $25.

DEAL: FREE Admission. Tickets for food, beer and wine are $5 each or six tickets for $25; 100% of the proceeds benefit the 49ers Foundation.

HOW: Buy your tickets the day of the event at a designated ticket booth – cash only.

WHEN: Saturday, February 28, 2011, 12 noon to 3:pm. 12:30 pm Crab Cracking Competition.

WHERE: Union Square (Powell between Geary and Post), San Francisco, CA.

WHO: San Francisco 49ers; 49ers Gold Rush Cheerleaders; 49ers Mascot Sourdough Sam; Local Union Square Chefs.

WHAT ELSE: This year, the Crab Festival will be a “zero waste” event. In partnership with Golden Gate Disposal & Recycling and the San Francisco Department of the Environment, all materials used at the event will be compostable and recyclable.