Billions of snow crabs have disappeared from the waters around Alaska. Scientists say overfishing is

[Eugene]

Source: CNN

Billions of snow crabs have disappeared from the waters around Alaska. Scientists say overfishing is not the cause

By Rachel Ramirez, CNN
Updated 10:06 PM EDT, Sun October 16, 2022

(CNN) — The Alaska snow crab harvest has been canceled for the first time ever after billions of the crustaceans have disappeared from the cold, treacherous waters of the Bering Sea in recent years.

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“We call it overfishing because of the size level,” Michael Litzow, the Kodiak lab director for NOAA Fisheries, told CNN. “But it wasn’t overfishing that caused the collapse, that much is clear.”

Litzow says human-caused climate change is a significant factor in the crabs’ alarming disappearance.

Snow crabs are cold-water species and found overwhelmingly in areas where water temperatures are below 2 degrees Celsius, Litzow says. As oceans warm and sea ice disappears, the ocean around Alaska is becoming inhospitable for the species.

-snip-

Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/16/us/alaska-snow-crab-harvest-canceled-climate/index.html

[calimary]

1. OMG. This is getting scary.

[Lovie777]

2. That's not all being affected by global warming....