Crab fishermen in Alaska have been scrambling to stay afloat after two years of the Bering Sea fishery being closed or severely curtailed due to plummeting crab numbers.
– Gabriel Prout worked four seasons on his father's crab boat, the Silver Spray, before joining his two brothers in 2020 to buy a half-interest plus access rights for a snow crab fishery that's typically the largest and richest in the Bering Sea. Then in 2021, disaster: an annual survey found crabs crashing to an all-time low. The red king crab fishery was closed; the snow crab fishery cut to a tenth of the previous year's take.
Kevin Abena, who runs a fishing business with his father, also relies on tendering to stay afloat in the wake of the crab fishery closure. His vessel Big Blue, which his father built in the late 1970s, stopped fishing for most crab in Bristol Bay in 2010, but they still own access rights and take a percentage from other boats that fish their quota. Abena also fishes for halibut and black cod.
But not all boats can adapt quickly to work in another fishery. Different equipment is often needed and access rights are necessary, both costly investments. Snow crab are typically found in a cold pool — water in the Bering Sea that stays below 35.6 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the year. Researchers have found these crab can survive in water warmer than this, leading them to speculate that rising ocean temperatures alone aren't to blame for the collapse.
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