{"id":112133,"date":"2024-02-05T13:42:14","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T08:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/?post_type=samudra&p=112133"},"modified":"2024-03-19T13:58:18","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T08:28:18","slug":"alaskas-empty-nets-ageing-fleets","status":"publish","type":"samudra","link":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/samudra\/alaskas-empty-nets-ageing-fleets\/","title":{"rendered":"US\/Climate Change: Alaska\u2019s empty nets, ageing fleets"},"content":{"rendered":"
Stocks of fish and crab have collapsed in Alaska, devastating both commercial and subsistence fishers<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This article is Linda Behnken<\/strong><\/em> (alfafishak@gmail.com) of the Alaska Longline Fishermen\u2019s Association, Alaska, US<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Climate change used to be something fishers in Alaska talked of as a concern for the future. No longer. That future is now. Alaska has witnessed, almost overnight, collapses in both fish and crab stocks. The cod of the Gulf of Alaska; the Bering Sea king crab and snow crab; and the Yukon River salmon. These collapses have devastated fishers\u2014both commercial and subsistence.<\/p>\n Commercial fish and shellfish condition, survival, population biomass and catch have been negatively impacted by extreme events. They include the marine heat waves of 2014-2016 and 2018-2019 in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea, and the record low ice cover in the Bering Sea. Alaska fishers and coastal communities that depend on vulnerable commercial fish species such Pacific cod, salmon and crab have experienced significant economic losses that are ongoing. Negatively impacted species support high-revenue fisheries and a large proportion of Alaska fishers\u2019 earnings, as also the US fishery harvest value.<\/p>\n Pacific cod are highly vulnerable to ocean warming. The cod population in Gulf of Alaska declined by over two-thirds during the heat wave. The fishery accounts for nearly a third of Gulf of Alaska groundfish value and supports the largest groundfish fleet, mostly smaller fixed-gear vessels owned by Alaska residents. The fishery was a declared disaster in 2018 and again in 2020. Harvests declined by 80 per cent from 2015 to 2019 and fishers\u2019 earning dropped from US $50 million to US $15.5 million. The fleet shrunk in half: from 386 vessels to 176.<\/p>\n The Bering Sea snow crab and Bristol Bay red king crab fisheries are among the most valuable fisheries in the US. The high value and volume of red king crab and snow crab sustain roughly 100 vessels, 500 crew members, 12 processing plants and 2,500 workers. Surveys in 2021 identified record low abundances of snow crab, suggesting a mass mortality event. The total snow crab biomass declined 86 per cent relative to 2018. The Bristol Bay mature red male king crab biomass has declined by over two-thirds, closing the fishery for the 2021-22 season. The economic losses are likely to exceed several hundred million dollars to fishers and processors. The losses to crab-dependent communities such as St Paul in the Pribilof Islands reverberate even farther; the one processing plant on this remote island cannot afford to operate without crab. This leaves the local people without a place to sell their halibut or cod.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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