Saving Seafood

Warming waters ‘key culprit’ in Alaska crab mass die-off

October 20, 2022 — Climate change is a prime suspect in a mass die-off of Alaska’s snow crabs, experts say, after the state took the unprecedented step of canceling their harvest this season to save the species.

According to an annual survey of the Bering Sea floor carried out by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, estimates for the crustaceans’ total numbers fell to about 1.9 billion in 2022, down from 11.7 billion in 2018, or a reduction of about 84 percent.

For the first time ever, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the Bering Sea  crab season will remain closed for 2022-23, saying in a statement efforts must turn to “conservation and rebuilding given the condition of the stock.”

The species is also found in the more northward Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, but they do not grow to fishable sizes there.

Erin Fedewa, a marine biologist with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center, told AFP the shocking numbers seen today were the result of heatwaves in 2018 and 2019.

The “cold water habitat that they need was virtually absent, which suggests that temperature is really the key culprit in this ,” she said.

Historically an abundant resource in the Bering Sea, their loss is considered a bellwether of ecological disruption.

Read the full article at PHYS.org

ALASKA: Alaskans question fishery management as snow crabs disappear

October 19, 2022 — Crabbers and restaurateurs fear the unprecedented collapse of Alaska’s snow crab industry could portend more fishery closings as climate change takes a continued toll on fish stocks.

The state, which has long dominated U.S. seafood production, is reeling after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game last week canceled the winter snow crab season in the Bering Sea for the first time in history (Greenwire, Oct. 12).

The department said the population of the popular snow crabs had dropped by nearly 90 percent from 2018 to 2021, plunging from 8 billion to 1 billion.

Read the full article at E&E

ALASKA: ‘We’re facing an industry’s extinction’: Bering Sea crab closures mean potentially massive losses

October 19, 2022 — This winter will mark the first time in the history of U.S. management that the Bering Sea snow crab fishery will be closed.

While other crab stocks have been declining in the North Pacific for years, the snow crab fishery’s collapse is doubly shocking for the industry. Not only is it one of the larger crab fisheries by volume in Alaska, it has also gone from booming and healthy to overfished and collapsing within five years, with little warning or clear explanation. Fishermen who invested in permits and boats less than five years ago are now looking at bankruptcy.

Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, the trade organization representing the industry, has estimated the direct financial losses at about $500 million. Adding in the ripple effects to the economy, that estimate rises to about $1 billion. Jamie Goen, the executive director of ABSC, said fleet members have expressed frustration with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s past inaction on crab conservation as well as sadness going into this closure.

[Earlier coverage: Alaska cancels Bering Sea king and snow crab seasons over worries of population collapse]

“(There is) deep sadness and shock with what we’re facing right now,” she said. “I think there was hope there would at least be a small fishery to keep our guys surviving and vessels working.”

The council heard and agreed to set maximum catch limits, which the Alaska Department of Fish and Game followed with the announcement of a total closure for both the Bering Sea snow crab fishery and Bristol Bay red king crab. This is the second year in a row for Bristol Bay red king crab, which has been declining for more than a decade, but this is the first Bering Sea snow crab closure in the history of U.S. management, Goen said.

Just prior to the pandemic, survey numbers from the snow crab population looked healthy enough for managers to raise catch limits and to tempt crew members to buy into the fishery. That was a sign of a healthy fishery, Goen said, which was also rationalized — a federal process designed to make sure a fishery is adequately conserved and managed while allowing for maximum sustainable use. During the pandemic, there was no survey conducted, so the next available data came from the survey in 2021. That was what showed a near-complete stock collapse and a nearly 90% cut in the total allowable catch for last season.

Read the full article at Anchorage Daily News

Alaska crabbers rip conservation decision to cancel over $200M harvest: ‘Unbelievable’

October 17, 2022 — Alaska crabbers are reacting after officials canceled the fall-winter snow crab season in the Bering Sea for the first time, in addition to the Bristol Bay red king crab harvest.

According to a press release from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, an analysis of trawl survey results for the Bering Sea snow crab with the National Marine Fisheries Service found the stock was estimated to be below the regulatory threshold for opening a fishery.

“Therefore, Bering Sea snow crab will remain closed for the 2022/23 season. ADF&G appreciates and carefully considered all input from crab industry stakeholders prior to making this decision. Understanding crab fishery closures have substantial impacts on harvesters, industry, and communities, ADF&G must balance these impacts with the need for long-term conservation and sustainability of crab stocks. Management of Bering Sea snow crab must now focus on conservation and rebuilding given the condition of the stock,” it explained.

Read the full article at Fox Business 

ALASKA: Alaska Cancels Snow Crab Season Amid Population Declines

October 17, 2022 — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said this week that it had canceled the winter snow crab season in the Bering Sea for the first time because of a decline in the crab population. The fishing industry described the cancellation as a crushing blow.

Biologists say the warming of the waters of the Bering Sea in recent years is a possible factor in the decline of the snow crab population. The number of crabs has now fallen below the threshold for opening a fishery, the fish and game department said in a statement, adding that the Bering Sea snow crab season, which typically opens on Oct. 15, would be canceled this year.

Read the full article at the New York Times

 

ALASKA: ‘It’s simply devastating in ways that many people don’t realize’ – Alaska cancels crab seasons

October 13, 2022 — On Monday, Alaska officials made an unprecedented announcement.

For the first time ever, they canceled the winter snow crab harvest in the Bering Sea.

They also nixed the fall Bristol Bay red king crab harvest for the second year in a row.

Jamie Goen, executive director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, says the total cancellation of the season came as a surprise.

“We were hoping for at least a small season,” Goen said. “It’s been devastating to get this news, and our fishermen are in shock and trying to figure out what’s next. ‘Cause we’re heading in to the second year now of record low levels for our king crab stocks and our snow crab stocks in Alaska.”

Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers represents around 350 people and a fleet of 60 vessels. They fish for king, snow and bairdi crabs in Alaska waters, and many of their boats are based in Seattle.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Wildlife says it’s trying to balance the needs of long-term conservation efforts, and the sustainability of crab stock.

A few years ago, Snow crab populations suddenly collapsed – likely the result of a warming event in the Bering Sea. Meanwhile the population of mature female red king crabs have been in steep decline since 2008.

Goen says this decision will have a major impact on their fishermen.

“There’s gonna be many boats tying up with the dock this year. Our vessels are facing bankruptcy,” she said. “They’re having to lay off crew and some of these crew had been working on these boats for 10 and 20 years.”

Read the full article at KUOW

ALASKA: Bering Sea king and snow crab seasons canceled amid population declines

October 13, 2022 — For the first time ever, the Bering Sea snow crab fishery will not open for the upcoming season. Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game announced the closure Monday afternoon. The Bristol Bay red king crab fishery will also be closed this year — for a second year in a row.

Gabriel Prout co-owns the F/V Silver Spray with his dad and brothers. The Silver Spray is a 116-foot steel crabber that’s homeported in Kodiak.

He said he wasn’t surprised that Fish and Game closed the king crab fishery — in a normal year, he’d go out for king crab, too. But numbers have been on the decline and that fishery didn’t open last year, either.

“The real shocking part is the total and complete collapse of the snow crab fishery which no one expected last year when it happened, and a complete closure this year was equally as shocking,” Prout said.

Read the full article at KTOO

ALASKA: Alaska’s Bering snow crab, king crab seasons canceled

October 12, 2022 — Alaska officials have canceled the fall Bristol Bay red king crab harvest, and for the first time, have also scrapped the winter harvest of smaller snow crab.

The move is a double whammy to a fleet from Alaska, Washington and Oregon chasing Bering Sea crab in harvests that in 2016 grossed $280 million, The Seattle Times reported.

The closures reflect conservation concerns about both crab species following bleak summer populations surveys. The decisions to shut down the snow crab and fall king crab harvests came after days of discussions by Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists and senior agency officials who faced crabbers’ pleas for at least small fisheries.

“I am struggling for words. This is so unbelievable that this is happening,” said Jamie Goen, executive director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, adding that some crabbers will go out of business.

Read the full article at KPTV

Alaska’s snow crabs have disappeared. Where they went is a mystery.

August 22, 2022 — The theories are many. The crabs moved into Russian waters. They are dead because predators got them. They are dead because they ate each other. The crabs scuttled off the continental shelf and scientists just didn’t see them. Alien abduction.

Okay, not that last one. But everyone agrees on one point: The disappearance of Alaska’s snow crabs probably is connected to climate change. Marine biologists and those in the fishing industry fear the precipitous and unexpected crash of this luxury seafood item is a harbinger, a warning about how quickly a fishery can be wiped out in this new, volatile world.

Gabriel Prout and his brothers Sterling and Ashlan were blindsided. Harvests of Alaskan king crab — the bigger, craggier species that was the star of the television show “Deadliest Catch” — have been on a slow decline for over a decade. But in 2018 and 2019, scientists had seemingly great news about Alaska’s snow crabs: Record numbers of juvenile crabs were zooming around the ocean bottom, suggesting a massive haul for subsequent fishing seasons.
Prout, 32, and his brothers bought out their father’s partner, becoming part owners of the 116-foot Silver Spray. They took out loans and bought $4 million in rights to harvest a huge number of crabs. It was a year that many young commercial fishers in the Bering Sea bought into the fishery, going from deckhands to owners. Everyone was convinced the 2021 snow crab season was going to be huge.