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Disappearing snow crabs

November 21, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Alaska snow crabs are a cold-water species found off the coast of Alaska in the Bering, Beaufort, and Chukchi Seas. They are one of ten commercially-fished species in Alaskan waters. The perils of crab fishing in this region have been well documented for many years in the reality TV series Deadliest Catch.

Last year, officials in Alaska canceled the winter snow crab season for the first time ever due to a sharp population decline. While the number of juvenile snow crabs was at record highs just a few years earlier, approximately 90% of snow crabs mysteriously disappeared ahead of the 2021 season.

This year, officials in Alaska have once again canceled the snow crab harvest season for the second year in a row, citing the overwhelming numbers of crabs – in the billions – missing from Alaskan waters.

Scientists have suspected that the warming ocean temperatures triggered this snow crab population collapse. But did the crabs move someplace else or die off? According to a new study recently published by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, warmer ocean temperatures likely caused the snow crabs to starve to death. The research team found a significant link between recent marine heat waves in the eastern Bering Sea and the sudden disappearance of the snow crabs that began showing up in surveys in 2021.

According to the study, warmer ocean water dramatically increases snow crabs’ caloric needs. But with the warmer water also disrupting much of the region’s food web, snow crabs had a hard time foraging for food and weren’t able to keep up.

Researchers expect the population may eventually find refuge in colder waters further north.

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Web Links

Climate Change And Crabs

Billions of crabs went missing around Alaska

Photo, posted August 28, 2013, courtesy of Boris Kasimov via Flickr.

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Crops May Need To Move | Earth Wise

October 5, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

California has unique micro-climate diversity that creates ideal growing conditions for a wide range of crops. One third of the vegetables and two-thirds of the fruits and nuts we eat in this country are grown on the more than 76,000 farms in California. But as the climate continues to change, many farmers have started to worry about where and when crops can be grown in the future. Within the next 20 years or so, some parts of California may become too hot and dry to sustain agricultural production.

According to new research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, by the years 2045-2049, warmer temperatures will have a significant effect on cool-season crops such as broccoli and lettuce such that their growing season will need to shift. On the other hand, warm-season crops like cantaloupe, tomatoes, and carrots will need to move to entirely new growing locations.

The study looked at five key crops that are produced more in California than elsewhere and studied the climate conditions under which they prosper and those under which they fail. They established the range of conditions for which the crops can remain successful. Finally they looked at climate projections for various parts of the state.

California’s agriculture is an essential part of our food security, so it is important to predict how future warming will affect when and where crops can be grown. Changing these things presents challenges. For example, when considering relocating crops, growers have specialized knowledge of their land and their crops. If crops need to move to a new area, either the farmers have to move to that area, or they have to grow a different crop. Either way, it presents a practical and economic burden on the farmer.

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Some of America’s Favorite Produce Crops May Need to Get a Move On by 2045

Photo, posted June 16, 2011, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The High Cost Of The Cloud

May 2, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

More and more often we make use of “the cloud” – that mysterious place where we store, move, process and analyze data. We keep our photos there. We stream music and videos from there. We do our work there. Perhaps we have a mental image of all of this digital information floating above our heads in some ethereal way: like in a cloud.