12/12/19: While the president obsesses about toilets (see: 12/7/19), climate change wreaks havoc in the Gulf of Alaska.
A “heat blob” in 2014 raised water temperatures 4-5 degrees, which killed most young Pacific cod. This fall it was found that there were “next to no” new eggs and the cod fishery has been closed for the year. In 2014, Gulf fishers hauled in 113,830 metric tons of cod. That figure declined to 46,080 metric tons in 2017.
This year, the fishery is closed. (See also: 12/1/19.)
NPR captures the essence of the story in an interview with one man who made his living catching cod:
“It’s kind of devastating,”
Kodiak-based…cod fisherman Frank Miles said last month, hoping at the time that
the situation would turn around for next year’s season.
Before the first heat wave,
Miles said about 70% of his income came from cod fishing. Since then, he’s
worked to diversify, but he’s still concerned for the future.
“I’m more worried about my son
and his generation, the younger guys coming up,” he said. “I’m 60, I’m probably
just about done. I’d like to think that I could fish cod one more time before I
retire, but I don’t know. I simply don’t know where we’re going here.”
Neither does the president.
Maybe he’ll spot a cod in his toilet.
(To get some idea of how much money is involved, a metric ton
of Pacific cod was selling in 2017 for around $3,500.)
The cod stock in almost wiped out in the Gulf of Alaska.
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