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| Alaska Snow Crab. NOAA Photo. |
INTRODUCTION
Recently in October 2022, officials announced that crabbing season was canceled in Alaska. It was not because of economic reasons nor political tensions, but how could a very popular delicacy stop all of a sudden without warning? The short and direct answer is that nearly one billion crabs went missing in the frigid Bering Sea; that is about an 80-90% drop in the population from 2018 to 2022. This is the first time Snow Crab harvest season is cancelled.
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| Alaska Snow Crab. NOAA Photo. |
SPECIES ANALYSIS
Alaskan Snow Crabs (Chionoecetes opolio), the scientific name meaning snow-inhabiting shepherd, are native to the Bering, Beaufort, and Chukchi Sea near Alaska. They belong to the order of crustaceans called Decapoda, ten-footed. In order to thrive, the crabs prefer very frigid water, which is ironic because invertebrates like insects and crustaceans are cold-blooded. They are scavengers and will eat anything they can get their claws on, just like any other crustacean.
Let's be honest, crabs exist to be eaten. I will never forget seeing the prices of just 4 Snow Crab legs at the grocery store, which ranges from $35 to $200 or even more. The delicious sea bugs are very popular delicacies around the world, and Snow Crabs are not an exception. This means they are prone to overfishing, but the cause of the great disappearance was not overfishing this time.
MYSTERY AND POSSIBILITY
There is a small variety of ideas as to how one billion crabs went missing so suddenly. The most popular conclusion that I have researched so far is that the ocean is becoming too warm for the crabs. As previously mentioned, Snow Crabs cannot handle water that is a little warmer than very cold.
Other theories include that disease wiped out the majority of the population or that they moved over to colder water, possibly the Russian seas.
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| Snow Crab Legs and Claws. |
CONCLUSION
This very big problem cannot really be solved by non-officials like me, but the good news is that conservation efforts are as maximum as they can be. Because of how new this conflict is, the only solution given out was to leave the crab population alone. Until then, it is a waiting game. If anything could make us look more into the importance of our native wildlife, it would be extreme cases like these.
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