# 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:** 3
**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, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/41 "2022-10-15T16:54:19Z")
My preferred way of buying them is from a restaurant, delivered cooked on my plate. But yes, dungeness crab is awesome. ---
**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, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/42 "2022-10-15T16:59:38Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > My preferred way of buying them is from a restaurant, delivered cooked on my plate. I can see the appeal. I’m always a little sad when I kill them. (But I do get to use my nice cleaver (and a rubber mallet).) But it’s nice to eat them at home, with some corn on the cob. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2022, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/43 "2022-10-16T02:22:10Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Swarms of flying crabs are not a sight I want to see. This would make me crab-bee. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2022, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/44 "2022-10-16T03:27:08Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > This would make me crab-bee. I’m afraid to go to sleep for fear of dreaming about a hive of eight-legged horny pinchers. Ugh! And think of the honey! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2022, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/45 "2022-10-16T03:34:03Z")
Maybe the crabs just evolved a little common sense and realized it was a bad idea to be off the shore of Alaska during crab season. They could all just be laying low in Hawaii. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2022, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/46 "2022-10-16T04:00:12Z")
This could be an interesting development to watch. females can carry up to 150,000 eggs. It would make it a good candidate for evolutionary adaptation within our life time. ---
**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 16, 2022, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/47 "2022-10-16T05:32:45Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Maybe the crabs just evolved a little common sense and realized it was a bad idea to be off the shore of Alaska during crab season. They could all just be laying low in Hawaii. If they learned to hang with (and breed with) the coconut crabs common in the South Pacific we’d really be in for a treat. Helpful hint to arthrophobes: do NOT google or wiki anything related to coconut crabs. You do _not_ want to know. ---
**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 16, 2022, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/48 "2022-10-16T20:48:47Z")
How do the crabs know where to go? Ocean currents? Ocean temp? Maybe something changed this year that caused their migration to move and we just haven’t found them yet? Some years, the lake near our house is full of migratory birds in the fall. Some years they don’t show up. No idea why. Are crabs any different? ---
**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 16, 2022, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/49 "2022-10-16T22:10:49Z")
You know, it’s good for the crabs they skedaddled. Otherwise they could be in hot water. ---
**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 17, 2022, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/50 "2022-10-17T14:03:36Z")
You! Out of the pool! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/51 "2022-10-17T14:13:49Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > 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. It’s not THAT hard to ascertain general changes in population through sampling. By looking at the density of the population of animals in places they should be expected to be found, you can get a pretty good idea. I think anyone can guess “A billion crabs are missing” is a conveniently round number that is probably not specifically accurate; it could be hundreds of millions on either side. What is for sure is **most of them are gone.** They didn’t move to a different place this year. This reminds me of the moratoriums (moratoria?) that had to be placed on cod fishing a few decades back. The fishermen complained, but as a friend of mine put it, you can put a moratorium on it or wait a few years for the fish to erect their own moratorium, which is called “no more fish.” Whether this moratorium will work, I dunno. The cod moratorium certainly did, but every species is different and WHY the snow crab is vanishing matters too - is it just over-harvesting, or is climate change affecting them? The loss of edible ocean life is a huge concern, and has been for years. We’re going to drive the bluefin tuna to extinction soon and they’re the tip of a scary iceberg. ---
**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 17, 2022, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/52 "2022-10-17T15:15:37Z")
XKCD has something interesting and scary to say about ships & fish: **[Ships (xkcd.com)](https://what-if.xkcd.com/33/)** ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/53 "2022-10-17T15:23:48Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Whether this moratorium will work, I dunno. The cod moratorium certainly did, but every species is different and WHY the snow crab is vanishing matters too - is it just over-harvesting, or is climate change affecting them? Well, it worked in the sense of getting cod populations back up to levels that were commercially viable for fisheries, especially with changes to fishing regulations on equipment and catch sizes to prevent crazy overfishing again. But the cod population will probably never be back to where it was 100 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/54 "2022-10-17T15:30:43Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > But the cod population will probably never be back to where it was 100 years ago. Or for that matter 400-500 years ago, when ships could catch them by just lowering big buckets into the water. The 1990s moratorium on cod fishing devastated the economy of Atlantic Canada, especially Newfoundland. Newfoundland didn’t, and doesn’t, have a very large or developed economy, and there’s not many people living there, so when something like one fifth of the private sector was laid off in one shot, it was a crushing blow. Years of “pull all the cod out of the sea” resulted in massive social upheaval and devastation of people’s lives, but what else was there to do? Had they more intelligently managed the industry decades before none of that would have happened. All of this will now be replicated in Alaska. It won’t be quite AS devastating, because the snow crab industry isn’t proportionally as important to Alaska as cod was to Newfoundland, but it won’t be good. Fishery management is an absolute textbook example of where a government must intervene in the economy. Even for a hard core free marketer like me, this is about as slam-dunk an example of a common resource fraught with negative externalities as you can possibly imagine. It’s Market Failure 101. Without government control, the cod - or the snow crabs, or halibut, or tuna, or anything - will be fished to extinction. ---
**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 17, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/55 "2022-10-17T15:54:00Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > It’s not THAT hard to ascertain general changes in population through sampling. By looking at the density of the population of animals in places they should be expected to be found, you can get a pretty good idea. I think anyone can guess “A billion crabs are missing” is a conveniently round number that is probably not specifically accurate; it could be hundreds of millions on either side. What is for sure is **most of them are gone.** They didn’t move to a different place this year. How thorough is the sampling? The snow crab habitat in the Bering sea is like twice the size of Alaska. Wouldn’t you need the entire Pacific crab fleet to adequately sample the area? ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/56 "2022-10-17T17:14:29Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Seems like not that many years ago I remember Costco selling King crab legs as long as my arm. I saw live king crabs at an Asian grocery store. They were huge and really quite creepy. I can’t believe I didn’t take a photo. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/57 "2022-10-17T19:15:36Z")
> [@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. The Pacific states have put pretty firm controls (which is why not that common in stores) and the crab isn’t that far out or deep, so no North Korean, etc bandit fishing boats. The Population is okay, but could be better. > [@RickJay](#): > > The loss of edible ocean life is a huge concern, and has been for years. We’re going to drive the bluefin tuna to extinction soon and they’re the tip of a scary iceberg. Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/58 "2022-10-18T02:53:22Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Maybe the crabs just evolved a little common sense and realized it was a bad idea to be off the shore of Alaska during crab season. That’s what [Herman Melville suggested about whale populations in 1851.](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2701/2701-h/2701-h.htm#link2HCH0105) > [@](#): > > […] the moot point is, whether Leviathan can long endure so wide a chase, and so remorseless a havoc; whether he must not at last be exterminated from the waters […] > > Comparing the humped herds of whales with the humped herds of buffalo […] in such a comparison an irresistible argument would seem furnished, to show that the hunted whale cannot now escape speedy extinction. > > But you must look at this matter in every light. […] > > […] equally fallacious seems the conceit, that because the so-called whale-bone whales no longer haunt many grounds in former years abounding with them, hence that species also is declining. For they are only being driven from promontory to cape; and if one coast is no longer enlivened with their jets, then, be sure, some other and remoter strand has been very recently startled by the unfamiliar spectacle. […] > And as upon the invasion of their valleys, the frosty Swiss have retreated to their mountains; so, hunted from the savannas and glades of the middle seas, the whale-bone whales can at last resort to their Polar citadels, and diving under the ultimate glassy barriers and walls there, come up among icy fields and floes; and in a charmed circle of everlasting December, bid defiance to all pursuit from man. Melville’s complacency about the resiliency of whale populations was not justified by events. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/59 "2022-10-18T14:57:16Z")
I learned by reading the comments on news stories that this is all a government lie to make more people be under government control. Wake up Sheeple! ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254/60 "2022-10-18T18:26:18Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > How do the crabs know where to go? Ocean currents? Ocean temp? Maybe something changed this year that caused their migration to move and we just haven’t found them yet? > > Some years, the lake near our house is full of migratory birds in the fall. Some years they don’t show up. No idea why. Are crabs any different? This was my thinking, they can also go much deeper than they could possibly be fished. I am a little concerned also about some of the fish species that feed on the snow crabs, such as halibut. I wonder if it will have any effect on their populations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-after-1-billion-crabs-go-missing/973254.md?page=4)