The harvest is closed for the second year due to population concerns. Last year was the first time in history the U.S. snow crab fishery was closed.Alaska fishermen are feeling the pinch after Bering Sea snow crab season was canceled for the second year in a row.This is due to environmental impacts, like warming oceans, and economic factors, like inflation, that are putting a strain on fishermen. The harvest is closed for the second year due to population concerns.
This is the second year in a row that the Alaskan crabbing industry is taking a hit, an unprecedented event. A red flag was raised during the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's annual summer survey. Every year, NOAA spends months collecting data on the Bering Sea crab population. Recent years show drastic changes. In 2018, there were an estimated 12.2 billion snow crabs in the Baring Sea. In 2019, that number dropped to just shy of 5 billion snow crabs, but it wasn't enough to raise red flags at the time. The summer survey was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic. Then, in 2021 when the survey returned, those snow crab levels dropped to a little more than one billion total.KING would like to send you push notifications about the latest news and weather.