Why Did 10 Million Crabs Die in Alaska Over the Last 5 Years?

Amaze Lab

Over the last few years there’s been a mass die-off of snow crabs in the Bering Sea just off the coast of Alaska. Researchers estimate that between just 2018 and 2021, some 10 billion of the crabs have disappeared meaning the species is in trouble.

Transcript

00:00Over the last few years, there's been a mass die-off of snow crabs in the Bering Sea just

00:08off the coast of Alaska. Researchers estimate that between just 2018 and 2021, some 10 billion

00:14of the crabs have disappeared, meaning the species is in trouble. And now, according to a new report

00:20by researchers with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Alaska Fisheries

00:25Science Center in Seattle, they might finally know why. Researchers found that in 2018, snow crab

00:30populations were reaching historic highs, leading to a $150 million crabbing industry in Alaska.

00:36However, after marine heatwaves hit their habitats, their numbers plummeted, killing billions of them,

00:41with the Alaskan crabbing industry only taking in $24 million in 2022. These heatwaves are becoming

00:48more common as our planet gets warmer, and it prevents typical sea ice formation. That ice

00:52has an annual melt cycle that sends frigid meltwater to the bottom of the sea, where the crabs call

00:57home. When the sea ice never formed during a marine warming period back in 2018, it couldn't

01:02eventually melt 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 snow crabs

01:12and too little food, ultimately resulting in a mass die-off.

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