Alaskan Snow Crab Fishery Closed For Second Straight Year - Marine Heatwave Wiped Out 90% Of Population

[hatrack]

The crisis first began in early 2022, after biologists discovered an estimated 10 billion crabs disappeared — a 90% plunge in the population. “The first reaction was, is this real? You know, we looked at it and it was almost a flat line,” said Ben Daly, a research coordinator with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. A recent survey of the species showed little sign of a rebound.

“Environmental conditions are changing rapidly,” Daly told CBS News last year when the snow crab season was canceled for the first time ever. “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.”

According to new research from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a marine heat wave linked to climate change impacted the snow crabs’ food supply and drove them to starvation.

Biologists hope this second round of suspensions will give the remaining snow crab population time to bulk back up. But with the climate threat only growing, there’s concern the snow crabs, along with the industry that depends on them, will continue to shrink.

EDIT

https://climatecrocks.com/2024/01/05/marine-heat-wave-crashes-alaskan-crab-fishery-again/

[Old Crank]

1. It won't get better

Unless their food supply can bounce back.
Reduced predation by the crabs should help some but if it is too warm for the critters the crab eat there won't be many snow crabs at all.
Perhaps some of the fish they eat headed north.

So little we don't know about the marine environment and how it functions.

[NickB79]

8. The problem is that the warmer water speeds up their metabolism

They're cold-blooded, so warmer water means they need to eat more food than they typically would.

It doesn't sound like there's much hope long-term that they'll recover, at least in their current range.

[Botany]

2. The lobster population off of Maine and Cape Cod is crashing too

Global warming is real. Wild sturgeon, salmon, and trout populations in the west are
declining too.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. I enjoy the Discovery channel show-The Deadliest Catch

The fisherman have been dealing with the shutdowns over the last two seasons. I wonder if there will be another season of this show.

[efhmc]

4. Just perhaps this will convince those RW idiots.

[hatrack]

5. Nope - haven't you heard?

It's a transgender woke conspiracy of lesbian librarians funded by Soros, masterminded by Al Gore and led by Ru Paul to heat the water of the Bering Sea using orbiting space lasers, so that they can deprive me of my God-given right as a 'Murcan to eat all the crab legs I want for $7.99 at the Country Crock Buffet on Saturday nights.

[NotMissD]

6. I have not been able

To afford real crab legs for 20 years. No doubt the species was on the ropes for a long time. As long as those faux crab legs are still available, we can do our part to protect the real thing.

[Kali]

7. I think they mean King Crab, not snow crab

snow crab was on sale at Safeway for $6/lb last week. King crab is going well over $100 if it can even be found. I suspect mostly old frozen stock as AK shut fishery down 2 years ago (as mentioned in the story)

Totally different animals!