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

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

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.

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

 

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Here is another relevant article.

Decline of Bering Sea snow crab fishery demands swift action

Billions of crabs have vanished off the coast of Alaska, and with them, the fishing season for the Bering Sea crab fleet. This is grim news for a fleet that has fished crabs under science-based catch limits for years, providing healthy wild-caught seafood to the world and bringing jobs and income throughout Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. It’s also bad news for the communities of the Bering Sea, like St. Paul Island, where the economy is almost entirely dependent on the snow crab fishery.

How did a healthy snow crab population that generates $200 million annually crash in four short years? The record-breaking heat waves during 2018 and 2019 may be a factor. As the ocean heats, crab have
higher metabolisms and need to eat more
. But food is scarcer as other marine organisms struggle to adapt to the rapid changes in their environment. Crab may have been more susceptible to diseases, or they may have died or been eaten as a result of shifting interactions between predators and their prey. Crabs are also caught as “bycatch” in fisheries targeting pollock, flatfish and other species.

https://www-seattletimes-com.cdn.am...snow-crab-fishery-demands-swift-action/?amp=1