The end of the summer Dungeness crab season is only a few days away and reports of low catch rates might have some fishermen in a crabby mood.
“On a regionwide level, there are no bright spots, and generally regionwide catch rates have been down,” said Joseph Stratman, the lead crab biologist of Region I for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
…
Stratman said he can’t identify any specific causes as to why regionwide catch rates are down, but said it’s not atypical to see this species’s numbers fluctuate from year to year, and it’s hard to predict how a may differ each given the format the department collects the estimated season prediction.
“All info from the fishing, we don’t know how things look until people do some fishing,” he said. “But from what I’ve heard, people weren’t catching a lot of crabs.”
But, studies by the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggest that Dungeness crab populations will likely face challenges as climate change continues to grow as more of a threat to ocean sustainability.
Ocean acidification has been linked to a projected decline over the next 50 years in Dungeness crab biomass, larval development rates and survival and an overall loss in economic revenue according to a case study published by the NOAA fisheries in collaboration with The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and NOAA Ocean Acidification Program.
…
Clarise Larson, Juneau Empire, 27 July 2022. Full article.
