Crab fishermen in Alaska have been scrambling to stay afloat after two years of the Bering Sea fishery being closed or severely curtailed due to plummeting crab numbers.
Kevin Abena, who runs a fishing business with his father, also relies on tendering to stay afloat in the wake of the crab fishery closure.
Scientists say two years of low sea ice cover and abnormally warm ocean temperatures due to climate change in 2018 and 2019 may have altered the ecosystem in a way that snow crab couldn’t survive, said Mike Litzow, lab director at the Kodiak Fisheries Science Center.
Their annual survey, which was skipped in 2020 due to COVID, found total crab populations in the Bering Sea plummeted from an all-time high of 11.7 billion in 2018 to 940 million in 2021, the lowest ever recorded.
Researchers have found these crab can survive in water warmer than this, leading them to speculate that rising ocean temperatures alone aren’t to blame for the collapse.
Instead, researchers think the warmer water may have allowed more predators into the habitat, facilitated disease spread or made it harder for the crabs to catch enough prey to fuel an increased metabolism.
In May, the U.S. Department of Commerce allocated almost $192 million to help Alaskan fishers affected by the closures of the king and snow crab fisheries for the last two years, but Prout thinks many boats will go out of business before that money arrives.
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Kevin Abena, who runs a fishing business with his father, also relies on tendering to stay afloat in the wake of the crab fishery closure.
Scientists say two years of low sea ice cover and abnormally warm ocean temperatures due to climate change in 2018 and 2019 may have altered the ecosystem in a way that snow crab couldn’t survive, said Mike Litzow, lab director at the Kodiak Fisheries Science Center.
Their annual survey, which was skipped in 2020 due to COVID, found total crab populations in the Bering Sea plummeted from an all-time high of 11.7 billion in 2018 to 940 million in 2021, the lowest ever recorded.
Researchers have found these crab can survive in water warmer than this, leading them to speculate that rising ocean temperatures alone aren’t to blame for the collapse.
Instead, researchers think the warmer water may have allowed more predators into the habitat, facilitated disease spread or made it harder for the crabs to catch enough prey to fuel an increased metabolism.
In May, the U.S. Department of Commerce allocated almost $192 million to help Alaskan fishers affected by the closures of the king and snow crab fisheries for the last two years, but Prout thinks many boats will go out of business before that money arrives.
The original article contains 1,124 words, the summary contains 214 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!