#snow crab dieoff

[thoughtlessarse]

Fishermen and scientists were alarmed when billions of crabs vanished from the Bering Sea near Alaska in 2022. It wasn’t overfishing, scientists explained — it was likely the shockingly warm water that sent the crabs’ metabolism into overdrive and starved them to death. But their horrific demise appears to be just one impact of the massive transition unfolding in the region, scientists reported in a new study released Wednesday: Parts of the Bering Sea are literally becoming less Arctic. The research from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found warmer, ice-free conditions in the southeast Bering Sea — the kind of conditions found in sub-Arctic regions — are roughly 200 times more likely now than before humans began burning planet-warming fossil fuels. The study underlines “how much this Bering Sea ecosystem has already changed from what it was even within the lifetime of one snow crab fisherman,” said Michael Litzow, lead author of the study and the director for Alaska’s Kodiak lab for NOAA Fisheries. It also suggests “we should anticipate many more [very warm] years,” he said, while truly Arctic conditions — cold, icy, treacherous — will be few and far between. Snow crabs, a cold-water Arctic species, thrive overwhelmingly in areas where water temperatures are below 2 degrees Celsius, though they can physically function in waters up to 12 degrees Celsius. A marine heat wave in 2018 and 2019 was especially deadly for the crabs. Warmer water caused the crabs’ metabolism to increase, but there wasn’t enough food to keep pace. Billions of crabs ultimately starved to death, devastating Alaska’s fishing industry in the years that followed.

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