Alaska cancels its snow crab harvest this year because of their disappearance from the Bering Sea in recent years

The Alaska Board of Fisheries and North Pacific Fishery Management Council have taken this decision. The reason is the drop in the population of snow crab in the Bering Sea. It went below the regulatory threshold to open up the fishery. It seems their numbers dropped from around 8 billion in 2018 to 1 billion in 2021. This is according to Benjamin Daly. He is a researcher with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He revealed to a section of the media - “Snow crab is by far the most abundant of all the Bering Sea crab species that is caught commercially. So the shock and awe of many billions missing from the population is worth noting – and that includes all the females and babies.” Agencies have taken a similar decision for the Bristol Bay red king crab harvest. That also stands cancelled for the second year in a row. Officials cited overfishing as their rationale for canceling the seasons. It seems more crab were being caught than could be naturally replaced. Billions of snow crabs have disappeared from the waters around Alaska. Scientists say overfishing is not the cause. As an expert revealed, surveys conducted in 2021 and 2022 indicated that population of mature male snow crabs declined about 40 percent. As a result, there are an estimated 45 million pounds left in the entire Bering Sea.

The director for NOAA Fisheries in Kodiak lab differs. In his opinion, calling the Bering Sea crab population “overfished” does not make any mention about the cause of its collapse. He is Michael Litzow and he believes overfishing could not be responsible for the collapse. He says human-caused climate change is a significant factor in the alarming disappearance of crabs. He explains that these are cold-water species and found overwhelmingly in areas where water temperatures are below 2 degrees Celsius. The sea ice is disappearing due to the warm climate and the ocean around Alaska is becoming inhospitable for such species. Temperatures around the Arctic have warmed much faster than the rest of the planet. Climate change is responsible for triggering a rapid loss in sea ice in the Arctic region, particularly in Alaska’s Bering Sea.

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Climate change alarm bells ring as North Pole records temperatures 20 degrees C above average

Alarm bells have begun to ring to warn about severe climate change in the offing as the North Pole records a temperatures that is 20 degrees C (36 degrees Fahrenheit) above average. This rise in temperature coupled with a record low extent of sea ice for October, is a major cause for alarm and is sending climate change alarm bells ringing around the world.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 19 November 2016.

Right now it is polar night when night lasts for more than 24 hours and the Arctic is supposed to get super-cold. October is the first full month when sea ice is supposed to grow. But, the situation is bad - the ice area is 28.5% below the 1981-2010 average, the smallest extent since records began to be maintained in 1979.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has declared this October as the third warmest on record behind 2014 and 2015.
In the opinion of NOAA meteorologists, the Arctic has been unusually warm for a long period of time. Parts of Greenland, including the top of Greenland's ice sheet, were over 7 degrees Celsius warmer than average last month and, there has been a "meteoric rise in October temperatures on Alaska's north slope." This has been revealed by NOAA 's climate science and services manager in Alaska.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Global warming kills sea birds en-masse in Alaska

#globalwarming #alaska #murres The remains of nearly 8,000 common murres have turned up on a mile-long section of beach at Whittier, a community on Prince William Sound 60 miles south of Anchorage and Federal scientists have begun an investigation into this incident following the discovery of these dead seabirds in Alaska.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 12 January 2016.

In the opinion of US Geological Survey researcher John Piatt, winter die-offs of murres is not uncommon - it has happened earlier but the numbers at Whittier is unprecedented. Experts feel the birds have starved to death because laboratory tests did not find any parasites or diseases in the carcasses. Warming ocean surface temperatures may have affected the fish that common murres feed on and brought about this mass scale death.
In 2008, an agency study had found that previous die-offs of the species took place when surface temperatures increased by just a few degrees. A former biologist for the USFWS had alerted colleagues after finding the birds in Whittier. The birds were dangerously underweight and emaciated.
Alaska is believed to be home to an estimated 2.8 million breeding common murres in 230 colonies.

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Oil giant Shell to drill for oil in the Arctic off the Alaskan coast

Oil and gas giant Shell plans to begin drilling for oil in the Arctic within the next two weeks and a fleet of thirty ships have left from Dutch Harbor in Alaska for the Arctic to support two initial exploratory wells. These are expected to be in relatively shallow waters of about 40 to 50m deep, off the coast of Alaska, and Shell would make use of conventional drilling techniques. In case the results are satisfactory, the company will go ahead with further exploration by the end of 2016. B then, it would have incurred expenditure of another $1.4bn on the project.
This has been reported in bbc.com dated 3 July 2015.

Shell has already committed about $7bn to the controversial project, and is confident it will find huge quantities of oil in the region. However, in case the initial wells do not find oil, the company will consider to shelve the project and walk away.
The US Department of the Interior had given the green light to Shell to commence Arctic oil exploration in May this year, and the Anglo-Dutch group is of the opinion that it will get the remaining necessary permits in the next week or two.
Experts estimate that more than 20% of the world's undiscovered oil and gas resources are in the Arctic. Incidentally, Shell had originally discovered natural gas in the Arctic in 1989, and it is now hoping to find oil.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Gradually diminishing Arctic Ice means rise in sea level and is not a good sign

#arcticocean #bobward #alaska #sealevelrise #climatechange Based on satellite records that have been maintained since 1979, it has been observed that sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has fallen to the lowest recorded level for the winter season. This is as per the US scientists of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder. This has been reported in bbc.com dated 19 March 2015.
The maximum ice this year was 14.5 million sq km and, it is found that the Arctic sea ice had thinned by 65% between 1975 and 2012.
This gradual disappearance of ice at the poles is not a healthy sign for the planet because it will have severe consequences for people, animals and plants not just in the polar regions but also around the world due to rise in sea level.
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