Citizen Journalist: planet

Monday, October 17, 2022

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.

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Greenland is losing ice at a fast rate with global sea level rise

A study in the Nature Climate Change journal reveals widespread loss of ice from Greenland. The extent of loss could result in global sea level rise of nearly a foot. There is no apparent way to prevent this from happening even if the world stopped releasing planet-heating emissions immediately. The overall loss could trigger at least 10 inches of sea level rise, irrespective of the climate warming scenarios. That would be a matter of concern because it would be equal to the total rise over the last century from Greenland, Antarctica and thermal expansion. Researchers from the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland made note of changes in ice-sheet volume in and around Greenland. It seems meltwater runoff was the primary driver. Subsequently, relying on "well-established theory," they rang the danger bells. The Greenland ice sheet -- equivalent to 110 trillion tons of ice -- will cease to exist as the ice sheet reacts to the changes that have already occurred. Greenland ice losses set to raise global sea levels by nearly a foot, new research shows. The authors did not specify a timeline but their prediction is that the change in sea levels can occur by the end of the century.

Massive sheets of ice sheets can melt at a fast rate when the air temperature is warm. Moreover, the warmer ocean water also erodes the sheet around the edges. Incidentally, a current report released earlier this year by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cautions that coastal regions of the United States could expect 10 to 12 inches of sea level rise in the next three decades. This could mean increase in the frequency of high tide floods and storm surges would spread further inland. In case all the ice melted, it would lift sea levels by roughly 25 feet around the world. This extent of sea level rise could leave some places devastated. The amount of ice that melted in Greenland between July 15 and 17 alone was approximately 6 billion tons of water per day. That is a whole lot of water.