A crab was caught on the ice just offshore in Nome. It had a small invertebrate in the gills of the crab.
While many Bering Sea crab populations find themselves in freefall, Dungeness crab is breaking records in regions that used to hardly see them.
Nome's landscape is physically altered, with raw material scattered wildly, the coastline reconfigured, and camps that anchored generations of subsistence either flattened or gone.
Researchers stepping off the research vessel Norseman II in Nome last weekend, brought significant news of having found very high concentrations of a phytoplankton called Alexandrium catenella in regional waters. Alexandrium is an algae that can produce saxitoxins, which can cause dangerous paralytic shellfish poisoning in people. The scientists issued an advisory, notifying Norton Sound Health Corporation, UAF Sea Grant and the Alaska Division of Public Health.
After no commercial crabbing since 2019, this summer’s Norton Sound Red King Crab fishery had a record year of $3.7 million dollars in ex-vessel value.
The commercial Silver harvest in the Norton Sound yielded the lowest numbers since 2002.This trend follows suit from last year as well, which yielded far less than projected. The run was “very poor,” Menard said. The preliminary catch was 7,100 Silvers. That’s less than half caught in the commercial fishery last year.
The prospects are dim for this summer’s Norton Sound commercial fishing and crabbing seasons.
As sea ice off Alaska continues its long-term vanishing trend, two seal species that depend on ice may be showing the effects in their bodies. Ribbon seals, distinctive for their black-and-white striped patterns on their fur, and spotted seals, known for their speckled coats, became thinner over time.
Late last week a strong Bering Sea storm hit the region, bringing winds up to 50mph, blowing snow, and high-water. Some communities saw significant erosion while others were mostly unscathed.
There has been a surge of plastic trash that has been washing up on beaches in Nome and across the Bering Strait Region.
Early snowmelt and low rainfall contributed to low river levels near Nome, affecting the ability of residents to reach usual fishing spots.
Even if a storm does hit Western Alaska, thicker sea ice will always be more resistant than last year’s ice was at this time, a climatologist says.
Severe erosion at the Nome River mouth has cost Rita Hukill and her family most of their land at their campsite at Fort Davis.
Every year since 2015, the Bering Sea has melted out earlier than in every year before 2015. If heat is killing animals, scientists have yet to pin down exactly how it is doing so.
In July, Norton Sound water surface temperatures reached 68.2 DEG F on 7/10 and 69.3 DEG F on 7/11, which is about 17 degrees above average. The water was warm enough to comfortably swim in.
Unusually high abundance of rusty tussock moth caterpillars in the Nome area.
The appearance of walrus on the ice off Nome added some excitement to the onset of spring.
Warm ocean temperatures are keeping ice thin, which become easily moved by the wind. This ice movement separates commercial and subsistence crabbers from their gear, and have led to the loss of both crabbing and mining gear.
1-3-14 Where is the snow - Solomon, Alaska, USA
A snowmachiner was trapped on the quickly moving floe and he was rescued later by a helicopter.
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