In a major blow to America's seafood industry, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has, for the first time in state history, canceled the winter snow crab season in the Bering Sea due to their falling numbers.
While restaurant menus will suffer, scientists worry what the sudden population plunge means for the health of the Arctic ecosystem.
An estimated one billion crabs have mysteriously disappeared in two years, state officials said.
Freshly caught snow crabs sit in containers on a fishing boat at Mikuni Fishing Port in Mikuni, Fukui Prefecture, Japan, on Friday, Nov. 6, 2015.
asked Gabriel Prout, whose Kodiak Island fishing business relies heavily on the snow crab population.
Ben Daly, a researcher with ADF&G, is investigating where the crabs have gone.
When asked what fishermen can do in this situation, with their livelihoods dependent on the ocean, Prout responded, "Hope and pray. »
