According to Population Declines, Alaska Cancels the Snow Crab Season

Native to the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska, the red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) is also known as the Kamchatka crab and the Alaskan king crab. This species is now found in the Barents Sea. Fisheries are highly competitive due to their large size (1.8 m/5.9 ft leg spread). As the name suggests, the red king crab is the largest of the king crab species.

The largest red king crabs ever recorded weighed 12.7 kg (31 lb), had a carapace width of 28 cm (11 in), and a leg span of 1.8 m (5.9 ft) (28 lb). As a general rule, males outgrow females. The average male red king crab caught and landed in the Bering Sea today weighs 2.9 kilogrammes and has a carapace width of 17 centimetres (7 inches) (6.4 lb). The name comes from the deep red colour it takes on when cooked, rather than the burgundy hue of the raw material.

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According to Population Declines, Alaska Cancels the Snow Crab Season

For the first time ever, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced this week that the Bering Sea winter snow crab season will not be opening. It was a devastating blow to the fishing sector, which was devastated by the decision to cancel.

Warming Bering Sea waters in recent years, according to biologists, may be to blame for the precipitous drop in snow crab numbers. The fish and wildlife agency announced in a statement that the number of crabs has dropped below the criteria for launching a fishery, thereby cancelling the commencement of the Bering Sea snow crab season on October 15 this year.

The state’s decision to terminate the season was met with disapproval by crabbers and representatives from the sector. On Friday, a biologist with the state’s fish and game department, Miranda Westphal, said that officials were looking into the cause of the dwindling crab population.

Ms Westphal stated, “We lost almost 90% of these creatures from 2018 to 2021.” Climate Central, an organisation that does independent climate research and reporting, has found that Alaska is the fastest-warming state in the United States. Furthermore, the crustaceans in Alaska’s icy seas may be dying due to the increasing temperatures.

Ms Westphal explained that “snow crabs are an Arctic species,” adding that this crustacean needs frigid water to exist. “The Bering Sea was quite warm and the snow crab population kind of crowded together in the coolest water they could find,” she added. She explained that as the water temperature rises, their metabolism speeds up and they require more food.

There wasn’t enough food, so they probably starved to death, she added. It’s impossible to tell now that the crabs are gone, she continued; “we don’t know” is an accurate statement. Ms Westphal noted that the little, round-shelled snow crab is the smallest commercially harvested species in the Bering Sea.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the maximum shell width of a male snow crab is 6 inches, while females rarely exceed 3 inches. Alaska’s coastal waters in the Bering, Beaufort and Chukchi seas are home to snow crabs. The average number of boats participating in the Bering Sea snow crab season is sixty-five.

Gabriel Prout, 32, who manages a fishing vessel business with his father and brothers in Kodiak, Alaska, said, “It’s going to be really catastrophic to little enterprises like myself and very disastrous to the crab fleet.” He claimed that he had been catching between half a million and a million pounds of snow crabs per season until the crash.

Mr Prout wished that “the catastrophe relief request we have put forth” may be processed quickly by the state. “These are genuinely unprecedented and troubling times for Alaska’s iconic crab fisheries and for the hard-working fishermen and communities that depend on them,” said Jamie Goen, executive director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, an Alaskan trade association.

He foresaw the industry of crab-fishing families collapsing. Though the cancellation would be devastating to the sector and local communities, state authorities stated the agency “must balance these impacts with the requirement for long-term protection and sustainability of crab stocks.” She said she hoped that by stopping the season, “we can conserve this segment of the population that will mate and create additional offspring.”