Local biologists want you to make Dungeness crab part of your summer.

They’re not talking about the boil/crack/dip-in-butter routine. But if you want to do that in future summers, it may be a good idea to volunteer to collect crab larvae now.

That’s right, crab larvae.

The work isn’t hard, said Paul Williams, a shellfish biologist with the Suquamish Tribe. It might be a bit yucky, but the payoff is that Williams and other biologists will be able to use the larvae to determine why the number of Dungeness crab in Hood Canal has shrunk to less than a quarter of what it was a few years ago.

“This project grew out of concerns in the Hood Canal area, but it makes sense to do it Puget Sound-wide to get a better picture of the origin of the Dungeness crab population,” Williams said.

Williams is working with other tribal and state biologists to coordinate volunteers throughout the region to collect the larvae. There are enough volunteers in other areas, but so far no one has volunteered to do the work in Snohomish County, said Don Velasquez of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“We provide all the equipment, we provide training, and we have a manual we gave to other volunteers who have approached us,” Velasquez said. “We would do the same for any volunteers who step up in Snohomish County.”

Five years ago, people pulled in nearly 700,000 pounds of Dungeness crab in the Hood Canal area, Williams said. Last year, they found only 180,000 pounds.

“Without being alarmist, it’s easy to see that something’s going on,” Williams said.

Crab numbers in the Whidbey Basin and in other areas are holding steady or climbing, he said. Biologists don’t know why there appear to be fewer Dungeness crab in Hood Canal, but they hope that by comparing crab larvae culled from waters throughout the region, they’ll be able to figure it out.

“The goal is to determine the settlement patterns of Dungeness crab larva,” Williams said. “We don’t know what percentage come in from the Pacific Ocean and what percentage are local.”

The decline could be a natural fluctuation, similar to fluctuations seen along the Pacific Coast, he said, or it could be a result of low oxygen levels in Hood Canal or other environmental factors.

There are more than a dozen volunteers collecting larvae throughout the region.

Two more volunteers are needed to work in Snohomish County.

They will be asked to attach ordinary kitchen scrubbers to floats and hang the scrubbers about six inches below the water’s surface. After a week, volunteers are expected to return to the scrubbers, collect any larvae that attached to the scrubber, and freeze the larva in a zip-close bag.

“If you’ve got access to water and a float, you can do it,” Williams said.

More people will be needed once a wealth of larvae is collected, Williams said. Each volunteer will have a chance to examine the larva under a microscope to help determine its origin.

“If people are interested, this is relatively low-cost,” Williams said. “What we learn here could be a predictor of future abundance.”

Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422, kkapralos@heraldnet.com.

To help

To volunteer to collect crab larvae, call Don Velasquez at the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife at 425-775-1311.