Since 2018, more than 10 billion strigun crabs have disappeared in the eastern part of the Bering Sea, and their numbers have fallen to record lows by 2021.
Information about the decrease in the population of the snow crabs in the Bering Sea became available in May of this year. Scientists then assumed that it would take more than one year to restore the population, but another powerful heat wave would complicate the process.
And now, as reported by goarctic.ru, American ecologists have found out that the summer heat waves in 2018 and 2019 led to an almost complete collapse of the populations of the common Pacific snow crabs (Chionoecetes opilio species) off the eastern shores of the Bering Sea, their numbers decreased by 90%.
The scientists' findings are published in an article in the Science journal.
While observing the state of the populations of C. opilio crabs living in the American part of the Bering Sea, experts came to the conclusion that their near-extinction was caused by mass starvation due to heat waves.
This should be taken into account when developing environmental measures and issuing quotas for crab fishing, the scientists summed up.
Alex Shishlo for Rough&Polished
