n 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.
this frames it as a mysterious and unexpected event however from what i can find its fairly well documented that crab populations of that area experienced a sharp decline after record breaking warm temperatures in 2019.
the fall king crab harvest was cancelled both last year and this year however that crab population actually appears to be more robust in 2022 compared to 2021. hopefully now that the snow crab isn’t being hunted by humans while trying to recover from ecological disaster the population of that species can also start to recover.
(via juliuscaesarofficial)