Alaska fishermen will be allowed to harvest lucrative red king crab in the Bering Sea

By MARK THIESSEN and JOSHUA A. BICKEL
Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska fishermen will be able to harvest red king crab, the largest and most lucrative of all the Bering Sea crab species, for the first time in two years. The news offers a slight reprieve to the beleaguered fishery beset by low numbers likely exacerbated by climate change. There was no such rebound for snow crab, however, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Friday that fishery will remain closed amid population declines. Scientists think that population decline was a result of two years of low sea ice cover and abnormally warm ocean temperatures due to climate change may have altered the ecosystem in a way that snow crab couldn’t survive.