In 2021, blue crab landings in South Carolina reached a 50-year low. This was no surprise.
Commercial and recreational crabbers have long complained about dwindling catches. For two decades, finger-pointing has largely been directed at the state for its notoriously lax fishery management. Now, crabbers have something else to blame: climate change.
A new “status report” on the state’s blue crab fishery, published by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, links recent changes to blue crab populations to estuaries getting warmer and saltier. Scientists know that salt and temperature affect blue crab abundances year to year. But teasing out the trends from natural ups and downs has taken time. These new findings, based on DNR monitoring data that dates back to the 1970s, shows three clear trends happening in response to South Carolina’s rapidly changing environment.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: The Post and Courier
