Tales from the Edge
Anjani Ganase brings the latest biodiversity news: warning that systems are collapsing from the poles to the tropics; and that human intervention can make a difference. The Maldives is an archipelagic state in the Indian Ocean. At the projected rate of sea level rise, these islands could disappear in the next 100 years. Aerial view of the Maldives. Credit: Ishan Hassan / Ocean Image Bank The tale of vanishing snow crabs In Alaska, the snow crab harvest in October was cancelled suddenly over fears of a crash in the snow crab population in the Bering Strait. The sudden drop in population came as a surprise to both fisherfolk and scientists alike after the booming population of over 11 billion crabs surveyed in 2018 as part of the annual shellfish assessment program me done by the Alaska Fisheries Science Centre, NOAA. The snow crab population in 2018 - was this the first warning? - was way above average but by 2019, th...