A new plant species is establishing itself in the area and impacting native beach greens.

"Grayling guts with unknown pearl like cyst or tapeworm. Never seen this before in our grayling."

An unprecedented outbreak of sea lice in Tálknafjörður has led to the loss, or the need to dispose of, at least one million salmon. “Nobody has seen anything like this before. There is a Norwegian veterinarian who has been working in Iceland because of this and he has never seen anything like this in his 30-year career,” Karl Steinar observed.

The snow crab harvest in Alaska has been canceled for the second year in a row due to concerns about population sustainability, but red king crab and Tanner crab will be available for commercial fishermen this season. Last year was the first time in history the U.S. snow crab fishery was closed. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game said the harvests were closed over concerns about long-term conservation and the sustainability of crab stocks.

Just over a year ago, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game applied the pesticide rotenone to two lakes and a stream in the remote Miller Creek drainage on the northern Kenai Peninsula to eradicate the last known population of invasive northern pike on the Kenai Peninsula.

The Bering Sea’s cold pool, a critical part of the seafloor ecosystem, had shrunk to a worrying degree in recent years, but it is continuing to slowly return, according to the latest results of NOAA’s bottom trawl survey. Saffron cod, also called tomcod, seems to be bouncing back after a few bad years, and Arctic cod and blue king crab numbers were also better.

By Diana Haecker

Die-offs of krill are in some cases associated with hypoxia (low oxygen) excess sediment suspended in the water column and changes in water temperature. There were recent reports of high levels of Alexandrium in water samples in the areas, and Norton Sound Health Corporation is performing some testing of krill samples (see below). There was also an unprecedented storm event only a week ago, unusual for the storm surge and early season.

Storms can bring a bounty to the beach - driftwood sometimes or in this case, clams! But be careful out there. There are new concerns about emerging levels of harmful algae in Western Alaska waters, which could impact shellfish and human health.

Scientists now say that the harmful alga will survive the winter and that it will probably turn green in the Oslo fjord next year as well.

Scotland’s only working nuclear power plant at Torness shut down in an emergency procedure this week when jellyfish clogged the sea water-cooling intake pipes at the plant. To protect marine life and avert nuclear disasters, scientists are investigating the use of drones to provide estimates of jellyfish locations, amounts, and density.

We saw over 100 on a 1/2 mile stretch of beach. I am wondering if the chiton die-off is related to the stormy conditions or something else?

King and snow crab populations in the Bering Sea have plummeted ahead of the harvest season, some by 99% compared to previous years.

Orthione griffenis, or O. griffenis, eventually kills its host shrimp, and soon the remaining shrimp can’t find each other to reproduce, rendering a blue mud shrimp population extinct.

Swarms of giant jellyfish are floating along the coastline of the Sea of Japan, and the damage they may cause to fisheries is feared to be the worst in more than a decade.

It is apparent that this area of coastline has experienced a sharp decline in its prawn populations. This may be due to increased fishing pressure from commercial prawn fishermen.

A self-cloning and invincible enemy invades coastal areas. The carpet sea squirt (Didemnum vexillum) or “marine vomit” have been observed nearby Stavanger and Bergen. Large yellow flakes has spread on the seabed and kills everything beneath. It may grow on boats and can spread along the coast.

The species Japanese sea purse is found by divers in Stavanger harbour. "This is a plague we have been waiting for," says researcher Vivian Husa of the Institute of Marine Research. Now she particularly warns mussel breeders about the danger the species represents.

On 2 November 2020, the Japanese invertebarate Didemnum vexillum was detected by diver and underwater photographer Erling Svensen at Engøyholmen in Stavanger harbor. The aim of a new monitoring project is to register occurrences of the presumed recently arrived D. vexillum in the delimited areas, and then to map how it spreads locally, and also what impact it has on the local fauna.

A mass die off of fish and invertebrates has been reported in the Sea of Okhotsk, west of Kamchatka. Dozens of surfers reported symptoms including including poor eyesight, fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, skin rashes and head and throat aches.