Over the last few years there’s been a mass die-off of snow crabs in the Bering Sea just off the coast of Alaska. Researchers estimate that between just 2018 and 2021, some 10 billion of the crabs have disappeared meaning the species is in trouble.
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00:00Over the last few years, there's been a mass die-off of snow crabs in the Bering Sea,
00:08just off the coast of Alaska.
00:10Researchers estimate that between just 2018 and 2021, some 10 billion of the crabs have
00:16disappeared, meaning the species is in trouble.
00:18And now, according to a new report by researchers with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric
00:23Administration's Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, they might finally know
00:27why.
00:28Researchers found that in 2018, snow crab populations were reaching historic highs,
00:32leading to a $150 million crabbing industry in Alaska.
00:36However, after marine heatwaves hit their habitats, their numbers plummeted, killing
00:40billions of them, with the Alaskan crabbing industry only taking in $24 million in 2022.
00:47These heatwaves are becoming more common as our planet gets warmer, and it prevents typical
00:51sea ice formation.
00:52That ice has an annual melt cycle that sends frigid meltwater to the bottom of the sea,
00:56where the crabs call home.
00:57When the sea ice never formed during a marine warming period back in 2018, it couldn't eventually
01:02melt and create a cold summer habitat for the crabs, which the study has found increased
01:07the metabolisms of the previously mentioned record number of crabs, leading to too many
01:11snow crabs and too little food, ultimately resulting in a mass die-off.