# Alaska Snow Crab season canceled after 1 billion crabs go missing **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 14, 2022, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254 "2022-10-14T14:36:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/21 "2022-10-14T20:04:59Z")
Begun, the crab uprising has. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/22 "2022-10-14T20:08:48Z")
It’s Dana Lyons follow-up to [Cows with Guns](https://g.co/kgs/8NLsUZ) … called Crabs with Napalm. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/23 "2022-10-14T20:13:18Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I guess there will be more Norway episodes of Deadliest Catch. Good Lord, is that show still on? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/24 "2022-10-14T20:15:35Z")
In reality, isn’t the billion crab number just based on estimates from the Department of Fish and Game of the number of crab in the wild? Is it possible that their estimates were just wildly inaccurate? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/25 "2022-10-14T20:26:27Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Is it possible that their estimates were just wildly inaccurate? If they are, then they’ve been wildly inaccurate for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/26 "2022-10-14T20:28:07Z")
It seems to me that it’s hard enough to properly estimate the population of a wild species on land, but in the ocean, it must be ten times harder. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/27 "2022-10-14T22:45:18Z")
I suspect that, much like flood risk estimations from FEMA, the crab ~~count~~ estimate from the AK Fish & Game might, just might, have been gently massaged for years a few percent in the optimistic direction to enable a larger catch quota as demanded by the legislators who control their budget. if you add (or multiply) a few percent extra repeatedly to a number, pretty soon it gets well away from reality. But oddly enough, real reality, not political or sales reality always wins in the end. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/28 "2022-10-14T23:27:22Z")
Perhaps they are marching south to wage war on the green crabs! That’d be frikkin awesome! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.E](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.e/32/8932_2.png) [@Mr.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.E)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/29 "2022-10-14T23:36:16Z")
So long, and thanks for all the crabs. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/30 "2022-10-14T23:41:25Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > as well as pollution and the sea warming up changing the environment enough that breeding didn’t take place [or the crablings died] I suspect this is part of it. ---
**Author:** ![MissMiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missmiss/32/12315_2.png) [@MissMiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissMiss)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/31 "2022-10-15T00:35:51Z")
I think it’s terrifying like the bee populations greatly reducing. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/32 "2022-10-15T01:40:22Z")
It’s the crab rapture. Crapture. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/33 "2022-10-15T03:59:10Z")
Here come the crab jokes - just dont be shellfish. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/34 "2022-10-15T04:33:06Z")
> [@MissMiss](#): > > I think it’s terrifying like the bee populations greatly reducing. Yeah, this is really bad news. Who knew that crabs would be the canary in the climate coal mine? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/35 "2022-10-15T13:26:03Z")
If the crabs start crossbreeding with the bees in a desperate measure to support both their fading lineages soon we’ll have an infestation of swarming flying crabs. Or maybe stinging sea-bottom creatures. Let’s hope for the latter. Swarms of flying crabs are not a sight I want to see. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/36 "2022-10-15T13:58:34Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Yeah, this is really bad news. Who knew that crabs would be the canary in the climate coal mine? The canary croaked decades years ago. These crabs are dead coal miners strewn about the mine while management insists all is well. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/37 "2022-10-15T14:49:20Z")
There’s a possibility the crabs just moved somewhere else thanks to climate change. The ocean floor has a multitude of mountains, valleys, and canyons that can go for years without having a crab pot dropped onto/into them. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/38 "2022-10-15T15:35:35Z")
I was shopping at the local Kroger this morning and expected to see prices for snow crab, if they even had any, would be astronomical. But they had plenty, and it was $18/lb. ($16 with Kroger card). Which ain’t cheap, but not nearly as bad as King crab, which is up to like $40/lb. around here, and that’s for sad-looking puny little leg segments. Seems like not that many years ago I remember Costco selling King crab legs as long as my arm. You’d crack a leg and pull out a piece of crab meat as big as a kielbasa. Those days are gone. So I almost bought a couple lbs. of snow crab this morning, but I didn’t. Not sure why…maybe I didn’t want to remind myself how much I love crab. Is Dungeness crab overfished / disappearing too? That used to be my favorite kind of crab, but I hardly ever see it in the stores anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/39 "2022-10-15T16:00:03Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Seems like not that many years ago I remember Costco selling King crab legs as long as my arm. You’d crack a leg and pull out a piece of crab meat as big as a kielbasa. Those days are gone. A month or so ago I noticed 10-pound boxes of king crab legs at Costco. They were $400. > [@solost](#): > > Is Dungeness crab overfished / disappearing too? That used to be my favorite kind of crab, but I hardly ever see it in the stores anymore. It’s about the only kind you see here (since this is where they come from). Currently, live crabs are [$20/pound](https://orderonline.lummiseafoodmarket.com/?location=11eb2f78ed9fb46c8648ac1f6bbbd01e&menu=#6). (Whole cooked ones are $22/pound, and ‘gutted’ - just the bits with meat in them – and cooked are $29/pound. But who wants to buy a dead crab?) ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/40 "2022-10-15T16:39:30Z")
I counter the previous reply with a hearty “Good on you”! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254.md?page=3)