Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association’s Fourth Annual Green Crab Week 2023

August 1, 2023

Join the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association for a week of fun and informative programming about the invasive European Green Crabs! Events will include chances to hunt, capture, recycle, and even eat green crabs! Our Fourth Annual Nantucket Green Crab Week is August 6 – August 12, 2023.


Green Crab Identification Workshop and Derby Information Session

No registration required
Monday, August 7, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM FREE
Join us at the Maria Mitchell Association Aquarium to learn how to identify green crabs! We will compare them to local species and show you how to tell their sex. This is also a great opportunity to seek advice about the Third Annual Nantucket Green Crab Derby!


Nantucket Green Crab Survey: Bait & Line

Registration Link: https://112458a.blackbaudhosting.com/112458a/Nantucket-Green-Crab-Survey-Bait- and-Line-Method

Tuesday, August 8, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM FREE
Join Maria Mitchell Association Aquarium Staff on a survey for invasive European Green Crabs! This survey will be a part of the MMA Nantucket Green Crab Community Science Survey that you can do yourself at any time! In this session, we will be using the bait & line method.

This program will meet at the Madaket Beach Parking Lot.


Green Crab Fertilizer Workshop with the Nantucket Land Council

Thursday, August 10, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
In collaboration with the Nantucket Land Council, please join us for this free, fun, and exciting way to help control the population of the invasive Green Crab, all the while creating an environmentally friendly fertilizer for your garden. For people to make their own Green Crab fertilizer, they should bring completely waterproof boots they're comfortable crushing dead crabs with, as well as a sealable bottle or jar to take home their fertilizer. We will provide crabs, coolers, vinegar, and take-home fertilizer instructions.


Third Annual Nantucket Green Crab Derby!

Registration Link: https://112458a.blackbaudhosting.com/112458a/Annual-Green-Crab-Derby

Friday, August 11, 12:00 AM – 4:00 PM, $10 per team of 4
Help the Maria Mitchell Association and the Nantucket Land Council fight the Green Crab invasion by participating in the 3rd annual Nantucket Green Crab Derby! Participate in a team of up to 4 to help us maintain healthy marine habitats and for a chance to win prizes! Rules and prize details are detailed in the reservation process.


Nantucket Green Crab Survey: Wading & Hand Net

Registration Link: https://112458a.blackbaudhosting.com/112458a/Nantucket-Green-Crab-Survey- Wading--Hand-Net
Friday, August 11, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM, FREE

Join Maria Mitchell Association Aquarium Director, Jack Dubinsky, on a survey for invasive European Green Crabs! This survey will be a part of the MMA Nantucket Green Crab Community Science Survey that you can do yourself at any time! In this session, we will be using the wading with hand net method. This program will meet at the Hither Creek Beach Access (Around 24 Massachusetts Ave.)

 

For Immediate Release

August 1, 2023

Contact: Grace Baisley

marketinginterns@mariamitchell.org

Recent Posts

Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • September 29, 2025
Sept. 25, 1854. . . . The best that can be said of my life so far is that it has been industrious, and the best that can be said of me is that I have not pretended to what I was not.  I think of two things when I read this. One is that Quakers believed in being industrious and not wasting time. The second point makes me think immediately of Holden Caulfield – The Catcher in the Rye if you don’t know that character’s name – and his various references and discussions to “phonys” as he refers to them though Maria’s mention here is not entirely in the same vain. A materially successful Quaker was one who was living “in the light,” as Quakers referred to it. Even if gifted with material wealth, Quakers still lived frugally and were a hard working group of people. As Hector St. Jean de Crèvecoeur noted, “Idleness is the most heinous sin that can be committed in Nantucket . . . for idleness is considered as another word for want and hunger.” If you were not productive and industrious, you would starve – and it would affect others in the community since isolated Nantucket acted as a corporate family economy – everyone was relying on one another for survival. While Maria is also not necessarily going to this depth of industrious it is a Quaker ethic that was strongly imbued in her. She certainly was a hard worked with numerous accomplishments to her name and many different projects completed even by 1854 at age thirty-six. And don’t forget October 1 st is the anniversary of Maria’s comet discovery – October 1, 1847. JNLF

Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association to Host Annual Aquarium Release Day

September 23, 2025
NANTUCKET, MA— The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) announces that its annual Aquarium Release Day will take place on Saturday, October 11, 2025 from 10am - 12pm at the MMA Aquarium at 32 Washington Street. A sensory-friendly half hour will be offered from 9:30 – 1oam. Join MMA staff for refreshments and tie-dying as you help the staff release this season’s Aquarium inhabitants back into the ocean. This event is FREE to the public and a great opportunity to learn and celebrate the marine life that lives in the waters of Nantucket Island. The MMA Aquarium is dedicated to educating the public on the importance of biodiversity in our unique marine ecosystems found here on Nantucket. Each summer, the MMA Aquarium Manager, Christina Norman, as well as her team of dedicated college interns and volunteers, explore the shores of Nantucket and find and document an assortment of over 7,500 individual marine animals, most of which are recorded and released. They snorkel, seine, and beachcomb to collect over 300 different marine animals. These animals are studied and cared for so that the MMA can help people to learn more about these important marine organisms while they are featured at the popular Washington Street Aquarium throughout the season. These marine animals represent roughly seventy different species collected by the MMA staff in tandem with local fishermen.  Pre-registration is encouraged. Register at the link below: https://112458a.blackbaudhosting.com/112458a/2025-Aquarium-Release-Day The Maria Mitchell Association was founded in 1902 to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. After she discovered a comet in 1847, Mitchell’s international fame led to many achievements and awards, including an appointment as the first professor of astronomy at Vassar College. Maria Mitchell believed in “learning by doing” and today that philosophy is reflected in the MMA’s mission statement, programs, research projects, and other activities. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages. ###

Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • September 22, 2025
Many well-known astronomers visited the MMO in its early days. Many of them with connection to the Harvard Observatory which continued its relationship with the MMO by sending astronomers, researchers, and others to assist in the MMO at various times. A British-born astronomer and astrophysicist, Payne Gaposchkin realized she could not advance in her career in the UK and thus came to the US via a program and became the first person to earn a Ph.D. in astronomy at Radcliffe College – the women’s college of Harvard. Barred from becoming a Harvard professor because of her gender, she completed research and was finally given the title “astronomer.” It was not until 1956 she finally was promoted to full professor. JNLF
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