The Alaska crab industry is in serious peril as the numbers of its two most popular species are falling to record lows, another effect of climate change that consumers are seeing in the supermarket and the pocketbook, the Washington Post reports.

Popularized by the cable television series “Deadliest Catch,” the Alaska fisheries were the major supplier of king crab and snow crab to consumers and restaurants around the world.  However, in recent years, their numbers have shrunk significantly.  King crab harvests in Alaska have fallen from 27.2 million pounds in 2008 to 6 million tons last year.

Snow crab populations in Alaska have gone from an estimated 202,000 metric tons in 2019 to 26,700 metric tons in 2021, a drop of 90%.  The snow crab population is so endangered, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game closed the area to snow crab fishing in October 2021; it’s not yet decided if it will open for the upcoming season.

The loss of the crab population comes as somewhat of a surprise, given that just a few years ago, fisheries officials and scientists estimated a major increase in the number of young male crabs. Theories for the decline abound:  a disease swept through the biomass, killing large amounts of crab; crab populations may have cannibalized each other.  Ocean depths may have lost oxygen, killing all living things.  The crabs migrated to Russian waters.

The one thing all theories point to as a contributing factor is climate change.  Rising water temperatures have impacted the ocean’s ecosystem, allowing things like viruses and algae blooms to thrive in warmer water.