BRUNSWICK

Town councilors tonight are expected to endorse an application for federal grant money that could be used to help mitigate damage done to local shellfish beds by an invasive species of crab.

Darcie Couture, of Brunswick-based Resource Access International LLC, is the principal applicant for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Saltonstall Kennedy grant. If approved, the funding would be used to continue efforts to contain the local infestation of European green crabs.

The aggressive crab’s presence is blamed for a sharp decrease of softshell clam stocks, as well as degradation of marine habitats that support other species.

Among other efforts, the grant would provide funding to pay clam diggers — idled due to a paucity of the popular bivalved mollusks — to hunt for green crabs instead.

“If these guys can go back to work catching green crabs, then they might be able to knock the populations back enough so that we can increase the seed stock and juvenile clam numbers enough to rejuvenate our bay,” said Brunswick Marine Warden Dan Devereaux.

During a “conservation resource day” on Sunday, 10 town diggers gathered at Thomas Point Beach to trap and remove as many European green crabs as they could find. Diggers are required to contribute a certain number of hours each year toward improving the health of the industry.

Devereaux said today that he had yet to tally the total weight of the Sept. 15 catch.

Among other business, a public hearing is scheduled to discuss limiting seven parking spaces on Upper Park Row — which currently allow all-day parking — to two hours.