00:00Over the last few years, there's been a mass die-off of snow crabs in the Bering Sea,
00:08just off the coast of Alaska.
00:10Researchers estimate that between just 2018 and 2021, some 10 billion of the crabs have
00:16disappeared, meaning the species is in trouble.
00:18And now, according to a new report by researchers with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric
00:23Administration's Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, they might finally know
00:27why.
00:28Researchers found that in 2018, snow crab populations were reaching historic highs,
00:32leading to a $150 million crabbing industry in Alaska.
00:36However, after marine heatwaves hit their habitats, their numbers plummeted, killing
00:40billions of them, with the Alaskan crabbing industry only taking in $24 million in 2022.
00:47These heatwaves are becoming more common as our planet gets warmer, and it prevents typical
00:51sea ice formation.
00:52That ice has an annual melt cycle that sends frigid meltwater to the bottom of the sea,
00:56where the crabs call home.
00:57When the sea ice never formed during a marine warming period back in 2018, it couldn't eventually
01:02melt and create a cold summer habitat for the crabs, which the study has found increased
01:07the metabolisms of the previously mentioned record number of crabs, leading to too many
01:11snow crabs and too little food, ultimately resulting in a mass die-off.
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