Speaker: Hillary Thalmann, Postdoctoral Scholar, Cooperative Institute for Marine Ecosystem and Resources Studies, Oregon State University, Hatfield Marine Science Center

Topic: Crab treadmills and a changing subarctic: Leveraging bioenergetics to better understand causes and consequences of the Bering Sea snow crab collapse

Abstract: Marine heatwave conditions in the Eastern Bering Sea contributed to the loss of more than 10 billion snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) between 2019 and 2021, leading to the unprecedented closure of the ~US$150 million commercial fishery. Elevated temperatures are likely to increase snow crab metabolic rates, but they are poorly characterized for snow crab in the range of temperatures and feeding conditions that occurred during the population collapse. Here, I present the results from my recent study focused on quantifying snow crab resting metabolic rates in response to acute and prolonged exposure to elevated temperatures and feeding and starvation scenarios. I also discuss ongoing work focused on snow crab temperature-dependent active metabolic rates and metabolic costs of migration in the rapidly warming Bering Sea using a unique Crab Treadmill system developed by the HMSC Innovation Lab. These studies represent the first effort to quantify temperature-dependent metabolic rates for Bering Sea snow crab under conditions consistent with a marine heatwave and suggest that prolonged exposure to these conditions may result in metabolic suppression and increased susceptibility to mortality.