Snow crabs are creatures that historically have filled Alaska's Bering Sea. That's why when they vanished, everyone was caught off guard. State of Alaska Researcher Ben Daly said in 2021, the fishery had looked healthy. "Out of nowhere, the stock collapsed," Daly said. Daly's message was echoed by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Biologist Erin Fedeway after a 2021 study showed approximately 10 billion Bering Sea snow crab vanished from Alaska's waters in just three years. They've looked at multiple answers trying to figure out where these crabs may have gone. "It's either a mortality event, right, the crab are not there, they all died, or our survey gear didn't sample them whether or not that's because they moved, you know, either west or north. READ MORE: https://www.king5.com/article/tech/science/environment/crabbing-in-crisis-pnw-how-did-we-get-here/281-6d03c185-e746-41f0-b6c2-70c0ae642494