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Yes, but this is most likely not cause by over-fishing. Snow crab fishing is relatively strictly regulated since a long time, and while there are always many w
by dathinab 4y ago
Yes, but this is most likely not cause by over-fishing.
Snow crab fishing is relatively strictly regulated since a long time, and while there are always many ways this might be side stepped the amount of missing crabs is way to high in a too short amount of time to just because of over fishing AFIK.
More likely it is a combination of multiple factors putting strain on the population leading to a collapse event. One main driver for many of this factors is probably climate change.
Something similar happened not to far away of where I lived (on a much smaller scale). Tones of fish died. There where many factors which where not grate and in the end too many algae where blamed as main source, but if you look into it it's basically: Low water levels due to multiple years of extremely dry and hot summers strain the ecosystem in various ways and make a explosion algae much more likely. Still that wouldn't have been enough to kill all the fish but throw in the fertilizer from nearby fields even further amplifying the problems and a small contamination with chemicals (which by itself wouldn't have cause it either) and most of the fish died. Or to say it differently with climate change putting strain of water ecosystems we might need much stricter limits about what human causes we allow to put strain on them.
- verisimi 4y agoPicking on you, sorry, but what do you mean when you say 'climate change'. I don't think you're saying anything, it's like saying 'bad thing'. What caused what exactly. Eg, if day warmer waters mean there is less habitat that the crabs can live in, I get that. Or if the deep, cold ocean temperatures have not changed, then that's not it. Or if the crabs have been poisoned by fertiliser, then say that. I do resent the idea of this catch all term 'climate change' that appears to have answered something while saying nothing. I guess it appeals to us on self masochistic/'original sin' grounds - we want to blame ourselves, and that is a decent, scientific sounding answer that passes muster. Fwiw, given one of mikedeen's comments, it sounds to me like trawling, and the destruction of habitat, is also a possibility.
- ketzo 4y agoI think it’s pretty clear from context that “climate change” in this case is shorthand for “human-caused warming and carbonization of oceans,” even if that’s not explicit. “Climate change” is an overly broad term, true, but it’s also very easy to understand what is meant by it in 90% of situations. If I tell you I got into a car accident “because of bad weather,” you should assume that I don’t mean that it was too hot outside.
- imtringued 4y agoI don't get the original sin rethoric at all. We made it harder for crabs to live now they are gone and we want them back. The expectation should be that humans do whatever is necessary to bring them back themselves rather than expecting the crabs to do our work for us.