Background Articles

Such a large, sudden die-off and a lack of sea ice were a red flag for scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Large, high-fat copepods — distantly related to shrimp and crab — are dwindling and loosing fat with the lack of sea ice from global warming.

The fishing season has ended for Bering Sea Tanner crab. Crabbers caught the record-low quota of two million pounds just before the end of March. Nichols said the average size of the crab caught was smaller than in seasons past. That could be because buyers agreed to accept crab they would've previously turned away.

Researchers at Memorial University, Ocean Networks Canada and the University of Victoria found the urchins, living as deep as 400 metres below, were expanding their populations into shallower water at an average rate of 3.5 metres per year as ocean warming reduces oxygen levels and food sources at lower depths.

The huge sea stars, which help conserve kelp beds by eating sea urchins, have been devastated by a wasting disease that is linked by scientists to climate change.

In coming decades, the ocean conditions that triggered the snow crab crash and harvest closure are expected to be common.

Some Southeast fishermen skipping fall season entirely, other’s say season has been “hit or miss”

The recent closure of the Bering Sea snow crab and Bristol Bay red king crab fisheries has some Western Alaska towns taking a hard look at their futures, including St. Paul.

For the first time ever, the Bering Sea snow crab fishery will not open for the upcoming season. The Bristol Bay red king crab fishery will also be closed for a second year in a row.

A six-inch butter clam harvested on August 28 three miles north of Savoonga tested positive for saxitoxins, or paralytic shellfish poison, Norton Sound Health Corporation Environmental Coordinator Emma Pate said.The clam itself showed high levels of saxitoxin present: it had 450 micrograms of toxin per 100 gram of body tissue. The Food and Drug Administration’s safety limit is at 80 micrograms/100 g. Pate, via the SEATOR lab, on Sept. 23 issued a paralytic shellfish toxin advisory to Savoonga and Gambell.

King crab legs for $199 a pound? There’s a reason for that.

A study by the University of Alaska Southeast found larger butter clams in Alaska contain higher concentrations of toxins causing paralytic shellfish poisoning, posing risks to harvesters.

The Skagway Traditional Council is asking harvesters to avoid blue mussels until the population rebounds.

The lab tests samples from 17 communities in Southeast, as well as from tribes on Kodiak Island.

A marine biologist at the University of British Columbia estimates that last week's record-breaking heat wave in B.C. may have killed more than one billion intertidal animals living along the Salish Sea coastline.

A researcher's quest to understand a mysterious mass extinction leads to cud-chewing culprits.

A sobering warning on Earth Day: Scripps researchers say record-breaking ocean temperatures and toxin levels are harming local sea life.

Warming waters have driven thousands of ocean species poleward from the equator, threatening marine ecosystems and the livelihoods of people who depend on them.

The study shows the destruction of the kelp forest was related to an explosion in the population of purple sea urchin, which eats it, and two warm water events that lasted from 2014 to 2016.

The appeal was sent to president Putin on 30 October on behalf of Moscow and St Petersburg surfing federations, pointing his attention to the fact that traces of rocket fuel were found in samples from the polluted area. It means that the anthropogenic version of the recent environmental catastrophe mustn’t be brushed aside, the surfers say.