climate change

Scientists had previously linked the crash of the Bering Sea snow crab population to warming ocean waters. But a new study released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Aug. 21 deepens the connection between human-caused climate change and the die off.

In this episode of “Island Interviews”, local college student Sasha Rankin shares her experience in the international climate program. She discusses tips on visiting Arctic communities and the significance of learning from one another.

In this episode of “Island Interview,” the Qawalangin Tribe’s Environmental Director Mandy Salminen and Resilience Coordinator Shayla Shaishnikoff discuss the multifaceted impacts of warmer winters in the Aleutian Islands and how the community can contribute to climate change research.

Annual reports for the Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska reveal mixed signs for fish stocks in changing conditions.

When scientists estimated that more than 10 billion snow crab had disappeared from the Eastern Bering Sea between 2018 and 2021, industry stakeholders and fisheries scientists had several ideas about where they’d gone. Some thought bycatch, disease, cannibalism, or crab fishing, while others believed it could be predation from other sea animals like Pacific cod. But now, scientists say they’ve distinguished the most likely cause for the disappearance. The culprit is a marine heatwave between 2018 and 2019, according to a new study authored by a group of scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting warmer than average temperatures in the Aleutians this winter. According to NOAA’s annual winter weather report, El Niño conditions and climate change are to blame for the warm temperatures.

While many Bering Sea crab populations find themselves in free fall, Dungeness crab is breaking records in regions that used to hardly see them.

A new study shows organisms near the bottom of the food chain in the Bering Sea aren’t as fatty as they used to be, threatening the Arctic fish, seabirds, and marine mammals who feed on them.

As Unalaska tries to adapt to the changing climate, the Qawalangin Tribe is looking for locals with knowledge of the island’s berry seasons, bird populations, and more.

ST. PAUL — The Trident Seafoods plant tucked inside this island’s small port is the largest snow crab processor in the nation. On a cold clear day in January, three Trident workers, within the hold of the Seattle-based Pinnacle, grabbed bunches of the shellfish, and placed them in an enormous brailer basket for their brief trip across a dock. The crab were fed into a hopper to be butchered, cooked, brined and frozen. Few of the 360 people who live on St. Paul, largest of the four Pribilof Islands, have opted to work in the plant. Instead jobs are filled with recruits from elsewhere. But the plant still remains a financial underpinning of this Aleut community. Trident pays taxes that help bankroll the expansive services of a city government, which rents apartments, leases construction equipment and even provides plumbers and electricians to make repairs.