Saving Seafood

Did climate change really kill billions of snow crabs in Alaska?

November 7, 2022 — The disappearance of billions snow crabs from the Bering Sea has captivated the world’s attention since Alaska shut down the fishery for the first time in October 2022. But where exactly did these snow crabs go? And what caused them to vanish so quickly?

Scientists are still grappling with these questions, but climate change is the most cited hypothesis for the species’ retreat. Erin Fedewa, a research fisheries biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said the decline of the species, Chionoecetes opilio, coincided with a marine heat wave that swept through the Bering Sea between 2018 and 2019, which possibly caused the species to experience starvation, increased disease or predation.

Some fishers and crab experts put forward a different idea: They’ve suggested that fishing, particularly the unintentional capture of crabs in fishing gear known as trawls, also contributed to the loss of the snow crab, or at the very least, impeded the species’ recovery from low population levels.

The snow crab fishery’s closure has amplified a chorus of concerns around Alaska’s trawling industry — mainly from within the fishery sector itself — and the knowledge gaps around its potential impact on fisheries.

Read the full article at Mongabay

ALASKA: Canceled crab season could devastate Unalaska

November 4, 2022 — As the top fishing port by volume in the nation, fishing runs in the veins of Unalaska.

Officials say that nearly everyone in the city relies on the robust seafood industry.

“Our only industry is our fishing industry. So everything that goes on in communities are related,” said Frank Kelty, the Fishery consultant for the City of Unalaska.

For decades, the snow crab industry was of critical importance to the city. However, in the past few years, the industry has been experiencing lower catch volumes.

Read the full article at Alaska News Source

ALASKA: U.S. Representative Mary Sattler Peltola calls for federal disaster funding for crab fisheries

November 4, 2022 — On Oct. 25, Representative Mary Sattler Peltola sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro asking them to consider appropriating disaster relief funding for those impacted by this year’s total shut down of crab harvests.

This is the first time ever that the Bering Sea snow crab harvest is closed, and the second consecutive closed season for the fall red king crab harvest.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Bering Sea crabbers call for new ‘crisis response’ to fishery disasters

October 28, 2022 — The closing of the Bering Sea snow and red king crab fisheries poses a $1 billion economic hit and continued danger of future fishery collapses from climate change in the North Pacific, the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers say.

“Across the country, fisheries are racing the clock to adjust to changing climate and growing uncertainty,” according to a statement issued by the association Wednesday. “In the North Pacific, ABSC is proposing a 3-prong approach for crab and disasters like it:  provide rapid financial relief, develop adaptive and responsive management, and bolster continued science and research. Alaska’s snow crab fishery is the perfect test case for innovating these crisis responses.”

“This is a defining moment in U.S. fisheries management,” said Jamie Goen, executive director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. “We must focus on what we can control: helping hard-working fishing families and coastal communities and using the information we have to make better, more balanced, holistic management decisions.”

Read the full article at the national Fisherman

ALASKA: Governor requests fishery disaster determination for snow, red king crab

October 26, 2022 — Gov. Mike Dunleavy has requested that the United States Department of Commerce expedite a disaster declaration for the 2022-2023 Bristol Bay red king crab and Bering Sea snow crab fisheries.

Dunleavy asked via a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo for the declaration in accordance with Section 312(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and Section 308(b) of the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act. Dunleavy also asked Raimondo to expedite a disaster determination for the 2021-2022 Bristol Bay red king crab fishery season.

Read the full article at Alaska News Source

Fisheries disaster declaration sought in Bering Sea crab fishery

October 25, 2022 — With a virtually complete shutdown of Bering Sea crab fishing at hand, fishermen, and Alaska communities are seeking an expedited fishery disaster declaration from the federal government.

The emergency is felt acutely on St. Paul Island, where the largely Aleut community of about 400 live on an economy dependent on the now-closing snow crab fishery.

“We’re predicting a 90 percent loss from two years ago and 85 percent of revenue from last year, said Ray Melovidov, chief operating officer of the Central Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association based in St. Paul.

Other revenue streams come in from pollock and cod fishing, but crabbing carries the freight for St. Paul. The money pays for fully funded preschool programs, home heating aid for residents, and community-wide broadband internet access among others said Melovidov, who serves on the city council.

Revenue from the big boats help maintain a local halibut fleet of 15 boats and about 80 crewmembers, a subsidy to buy their catch at prices competitive with other ports, said Melovidov.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Billions of crabs vanished, and scientists have a good clue why

October 25, 2022 — While counting snow crabs at sea in 2021, fisheries biologist Erin Fedewa saw that something was deeply amiss.

Fedewa, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientist, spends three or four months with a team that collects crabs from 376 stations in Alaska’s Bering Sea each year. Some of these areas always teem with crabs. Scientists count thousands. But in 2021, thousands dwindled to hundreds.

“The survey last year was a huge red flag for me,” she told Mashable.

The harbingers proved right. The population of snow crabs has crashed after hitting record highs somewhat recently, in 2018. Numbers have fallen so low, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, for the first time, canceled the snow crab fishing season this year. The NOAA abundance surveys found the total snow crab population in the eastern Bering Sea dropped from an estimated 11.7 billion in 2018 down to 1.9 billion in 2022 (these surveys are a critical piece, but not the only piece, that NOAA uses to determine long-term population trends). That’s a drop of well over 80 percent.

The agency thinks a dramatic episode wiped out billions of the creatures.

“As biologists, all we can point to is some sort of large-scale mortality event,” Fedewa said.

And it’s an episode NOAA believes was ultimately stoked by exceptionally warm ocean waters in the Arctic. In other words, it could be a consequence of climate change, which can make environmental impacts significantly more extreme.

Read the full article at Mashable

Disappearance of Alaska snow crabs means some businesses might disappear, too

October 25, 2022 — Some seven billion snow crabs have disappeared from the waters around Alaska. Experts are still investigating the cause, but rapid warming in the Bering Sea is a likely factor.

Alaska has canceled the snow crab harvesting season for the first time ever, and commercial crabbers and the economies that depend on the species stand to lose millions.

Just a few years ago, Alaska’s snow crab population was booming. Jamie Goen with the industry group Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers said businesses were making big investments.

Read the full article at Marketplace