Current Events > Alaska snow crab season canceled as officials investigate 1 billion lost.

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Alaska snow crab season canceled as officials investigate disappearance of an estimated 1 billion crabs

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fishing-alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-investigation-climate-change/

In a major blow to America's seafood industry, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has, for the first time in state history, canceled the winter snow crab season in the Bering Sea due to their falling numbers. While restaurant menus will suffer, scientists worry what the sudden population plunge means for the health of the Arctic ecosystem.

An estimated one billion crabs have mysteriously disappeared in two years, state officials said. It marks a 90% drop in their population.

"Did they run up north to get that colder water?" asked Gabriel Prout, whose Kodiak Island fishing business relies heavily on the snow crab population. "Did they completely cross the border? Did they walk off the continental shelf on the edge there, over the Bering Sea?"

Ben Daly, a researcher with ADF&G, is investigating where the crabs have gone. He monitors the health of the state's fisheries, which produce 60% of the nation's seafood.

"Disease is one possibility," Daly told CBS News.

He also points to climate change. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Alaska is the fastest warming state in the country, and is losing billions of tons of ice each year critical for crabs that need cold water to survive.

"Environmental conditions are changing rapidly," Daly said. "We've seen warm conditions in the Bering Sea the last couple of years, and we're seeing a response in a cold adapted species, so it's pretty obvious this is connected. It is a canary in a coal mine for other species that need cold water."

Prout said that there needs to be a relief program for fisherman, similar to programs for farmers who experience crop failure, or communities affected by hurricanes or flooding.

When asked what fishermen can do in this situation, with their livelihoods dependent on the ocean, Prout responded, "Hope and pray. I guess that's the best way to say it."

Shit. That is not good news.

I wonder if the deadliest catch camera crew are gonna keep filming but just follow the boys to the whore houses instead?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/3/9/AAX2_KAADxwf.jpg

Shit. I love crab. I hope they're somewhere else and not just dead.

What eats the crabs when they die in the ocean? I thought crabs were the ones that ate things that died in the ocean?

Oh no, bow people can't get their sea spiders

Etna posted...

Oh no, bow people can't get their sea spiders

Spider crabs aren't the same kind of crab as these.

But the actual numbers behind that decision are shocking: The snow crab population shrank from around 8 billion in 2018 to 1 billion in 2021

Its actually 7 Billion that have disappeared. There are only around 1 Billion left

Crabs are going to be next on the extinction list. Mark my words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agELcTCN2Rw

Snow crabs are cold-water species and found overwhelmingly in areas where water temperatures are below 2 degrees Celsius, Litzow says. As oceans warm and sea ice disappears, the ocean around Alaska is becoming inhospitable for the species.

There have been a number of attribution studies that have looked at specific temperatures in the Bering Sea or Bering Sea ice cover in 2018, and in those attribution studies, theyve concluded that those temperatures and low-ice conditions in the Bering sea are a consequence of global warming,

They may never come back

MrCokeacola posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agELcTCN2Rw

7 billion crabs disappearing is pretty important

They went back home

Irony posted...

7 billion crabs disappearing is pretty important

Don't eat seafood, not my problem.

Jeff_AKA_Snoopy posted...

What eats the crabs when they die in the ocean? I thought crabs were the ones that ate things that died in the ocean?

I don't remember what they're called, but they look like worms and they live all the way at the bottom of the ocean floor. They can eat anything, but their preferences are dead fish as there is little to no competition actively engaging said worms that eat dead fish

Humans: we need resources from the ocean
Also humans: *actively destroys ocean habitats with zero intention of stopping*