Global ecological and economic connections in Arctic and sub-Arctic crab fisheries
Half a million DKK has been funded by The Ministry of Higher Education and Science to this project
To continue newly developing international and interdisciplinary research pertaining to a comprehensive view of global interactions in evolving Arctic and sub-Arctic crab fisheries an output-oriented workshop will take place in late 2018. The workshop will consist of a broadly interdisciplinary and international group of approximately 20 natural resource economists, ecologists, and market and regulatory experts on these crab fisheries.
The project is a continuation of exploratory research currently underway in 2017 in Alaska, Japan and Korea. A main goal of the current exploratory research is to support development of a UArctic thematic network on global ecological and economic interconnections on Arctic and sub-Arctic crab fisheries (in process of UArctic review now).
Through this research, the project seeks a more comprehensive understanding of potential risks and opportunities related to shifting global market conditions for global Arctic and sub-Arctic crabs: the Red King (P. camtschaticus) and Snow crabs (C. opilio) that are widely consumed in Japan and Korea. While the crab markets are themselves important, they also provide an important opportunity to investigate how ecological shifts in marine productivity will interact with other market shifts.
With significant increases in sea temperatures in the Arctic expected, many species and ecosystems face challenges to their productivity and resilience, creating both risk and opportunity. The crabs are at the forefront of these changes and present excellent complementary vanguard cases for deeply analyzing these important and uncertain future transitions.
For more information on the project please contact Professor WSR Brooks Kaiser.