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Alaska snow crab season canceled after disappearance of an estimated 1B crabs

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Re: Alaska snow crab season canceled after disappearance of an estimated 1B crabs

#121

Post by WalterBright »

whyenot wrote: post #40
xutopia wrote: post #5

The overfished. Simple as that. Snow crabs have been becoming smaller and smaller because the biggest ones were not living that long anymore. It happened to cod fisheries in eastern Canada and it is happening everywhere until it's too late.

No, it's not that simple. The snow crab fishery is pretty highly regulated and considered to be sustainably harvested (by NOAA, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, others). As mentioned in an another article [1] from August on the recent disappearance, there were large numbers of juveniles in 2018 and 2019. Something else is going on. Overfishing certainly may play a role, but something else is likely the primary factor. 1. h…

Wildlife populations are a chaotic system, i.e. not steady state, even without any influence by humans.

It's still worth investigating, however.

Re: Alaska snow crab season canceled after disappearance of an estimated 1B crabs

#122

Post by virgildotcodes »

whymauri wrote: post #64
Damogran6 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You and everybody else. That's the problem.

There are many ways to solve the specific problem of overfishing, mostly to set aside zones where fishing is not allowed so the population can recover. This is at the level of government and states, having little to do with anything within my power.

Changing the industry overnight isn't in any one person's power any more than electing the next president, but the sum of our collective votes does decide the victor.

Large scale boycotts of the industry will drop demand, and so production, and finally the impact on the fisheries.

You can already see this at work with the decline of the milk industry in the US as consumers have lowered their consumption by about 49% since 1970.[1]

All done by the power of consumer choice.

Millions of people are already voluntarily choosing to engage in these boycotts against these destructive industries, without waiting to have a gun put to their heads. It's worth considering taking part in order to have some positive impact on the world, while also continuing to push for systemic change, in my opinion. It doesn't have to be either/or.

[1] https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2022/june/fluid-milk-co...

Re: Alaska snow crab season canceled after disappearance of an estimated 1B crabs

#123

Post by boxmonster »

yamazakiwi wrote: post #27
boxmonster wrote: post #6

Quoted post unavailable.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic but with this name I hope you are because it's hilarious.

I'm joking but I expected to get [dead] so it's nice to see HN has a sense of humor sometimes!

Re: Alaska snow crab season canceled after disappearance of an estimated 1B crabs

#126

Post by DesiLurker »

wnevets wrote: post #36
whymauri wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm eating as much delicious sushi grade tuna I can before it's gone.

tragedy of the commons in action

Yup, as I always say, Tragedy of the commons will turn out to be our great filter.

Re: Alaska snow crab season canceled after disappearance of an estimated 1B crabs

#128

Post by melling »

xutopia wrote: post #5

The overfished. Simple as that. Snow crabs have been becoming smaller and smaller because the biggest ones were not living that long anymore. It happened to cod fisheries in eastern Canada and it is happening everywhere until it's too late.

Yes, “the climate is always changing”

Those “alarmist”.

People certainly do blame climate change when they shouldn’t, adding to the denial problem.

But in this case 90% disappearing in 2 years probably isn’t overfishing.

Re: Alaska snow crab season canceled after disappearance of an estimated 1B crabs

#129

Post by bwb »

taylodl wrote: post #115
jobu wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other sources I've seen are blaming the dramatic heat during the summer of 2019. It "scrambled the broader marine ecosystem" causing die-offs and migrations for many species of fish. Snow Crabs are primarily deep water scavengers so they had plenty of food that year, but have struggled since.

Some people don't want to hear that because it's counter to their world-view. Earth isn't warming. Everything is OK. We can continue burning fossil fuels while having zero impact to the environment. Is there a word describing this mass wishful thinking?

No post body was provided.

Re: Alaska snow crab season canceled after disappearance of an estimated 1B crabs

#130

Post by myshpa »

WalterBright wrote: post #127

Overfishing is a classic problem of "Tragedy of the Commons". The oceans are the commons. For example, nobody is predicting a catastrophic decline in the population of pigs, chickens, and cattle. Fish farming is the future.

Veganism is the (only logical) future.
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