Population collapse? Snow crab season canceled in Alaska for first time

SEATTLE — Officials in Alaska have canceled the winter harvest of snow crab in the Bering Sea for the first time in history.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game released the advisory on Monday, saying that their trawl surveys revealed the stock to be below the “regulatory threshold for opening a fishery.”

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said this week it canceled the winter snow crab season in the Bering Sea for the first time because of a decline in the crab population. Biologists say the warming of the waters is a possible factor. https://t.co/q1pAoOE8AS
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The news is considered a blow to the seafood industry and will likely lead to shortages and higher restaurant prices.

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

Last year’s snow crab harvest of 5.6 million pounds was the smallest in over 40 years.

According to The New York Times, scientists say that the causes of the collapse of the snow crab population could be the result of warmer water temperatures or overfishing in the Bering Sea.

Miranda Westphal, a biologist with ADF&G, told the Times that it is investigating the cause.

“From 2018 to 2021, we lost about 90 percent of these animals,” Westphal said.

Monday’s announcement also canceled the fall Bristol Bay red king crab harvest. AP reported that it was also canceled last year due to the low number of mature female crabs. The survey needs to find at least 8.4 million adult females to OK a harvest, and the 2022 survey, though it showed improvement from 2021, still fell below that level.