WEBVTT - When Alaska's Snow Crab Went Missing 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:04.720 Latino USA is brought to you in part by just kidding. Hey, 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.760 it's Stephanie Lebau. You may know me as the voice 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:11.920 of Latino USA's funders or the creator of Futuro's sonic ID, 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:15.240 but I'm also the director of engineering and a sound 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:19.280 designer at Faturo Media and Faturo Studios. Our team of 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:23.040 engineers are passionate about creating audio experiences that leave a 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:26.760 lasting impression on you, the listener. We work alongside producers 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:29.400 to get the best sound possible on every story, whether 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:33.680 it's mixing, scoring scenes, creating soundscapes to help bring a 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:37.000 story to life, fixing up archival and field recordings, or 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:40.919 sending microphones around the world. 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Happy anniversary to Latino USA, 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:53.360 and thank you for tuning in. 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.280 This is Latino USA, the radio journal of News and 0:00:57.360 --> 0:00:58.720 Curtura Latino USCA. 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:00.720 You know USA. 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:02.120 I'm Maria Inojosa. 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:05.959 We bring you stories that are underreported but that mattered to. 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:08.160 You, Overlooked by the rest of the media, and while 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:09.920 the country is struggling to deal with these. 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.680 We listen to the stories of Black and Latino Studs 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:17.839 United Latino Front, a cultural renaissance organizing at the forefront 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:22.080 of the movement. I'm Maria Inojosa. 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:30.000 It's February and I'm at a beach on the island 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:34.920 of Kodiak in the southwestern part of Alaska. The island 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:40.000 is only accessible by small plane or boats. It's the 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:44.959 afternoon and thirty degrees fahrenheit Chile, but tolerable because the 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:47.480 sun is out and I feel the warmth of the 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:51.400 sunlight on me. The sand is black and behind me 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:55.400 are dark green spruce trees. There's some light snow sprinkled 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:59.080 by the shore. Standing next to me is Pedro Gruz. 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:03.800 He's a fish from El Salvador. Pedro brought me here, 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.840 about an hour away from the city of Kodiak, where 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:09.320 he lives, because he says this is one of his 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:11.760 favorite places on the entire. 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:21.040 Island in who stands but campar. 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:24.400 He enjoys spending time here with his wife and sons. 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.239 They camp here during the summer when school is out, 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:47.560 and they fish for salmon at a nearby Riverplente. 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:46.320 Campo. Yes, the. 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:52.200 Fedro loves being in nature to feel connected to it. 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:56.000 He didn't grow up in a big city, but he 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:59.320 and his family might have to leave Kodiak because the 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:02.080 industry that has long sustained and rooted them here on 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:12.120 the island is now uncertain. Late last year, the snow 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:15.240 crab fishing season in the Bearing Sea, which is about 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:20.560 several hundred miles from here, was canceled, and the snow 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:25.520 crab cancelation has never happened before. Catching snow crab is 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:28.520 a main source of income for Pedro and others in 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:33.880 and outside of Kodiak. It's been reliable for decades, but 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:37.680 recently snow crab out in the Bearing Sea disappeared due 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:42.320 to warming waters, scientists say a consequence of climate. 0:03:42.080 --> 0:04:03.279 Changemente Favrero Primo and Baked the baked eca Aki in Casa. 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:05.880 Federo says it's the first time in more than two 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:09.480 decades of his fishing career that he's here on land 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:14.120 in February. It's a weird, bittersweet feeling because he's able 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:17.600 to spend time with his family, but it makes them uneasy. 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:22.320 As we stand here, the waves crash onto shore and 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:25.880 we stare out into the endless blue water. We both 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:30.680 quietly ask ourselves will the snowcrab come back? And if 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:33.920 they don't, how will the fishermen and the communities that 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:35.640 rely on them survive? 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:46.960 From Futuromedia and PRX, It's Latino USA. I'm Maria in Josa. 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:51.240 Today we visit Kodiak, Alaska. We see how a fishing 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:54.920 community is trying to stay afloat as climate change disrupts 0:04:54.960 --> 0:05:02.800 their industry. On this episode, Latino USA producer Renaldo Leanos 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:04.440 Junior has the story for you. 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:11.120 Alaska has often been called a ground zero of the 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:15.160 climate crisis. That's because the people living here are already 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:18.480 experiencing profound changes in their way of life. 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:21.400 Well, the impact of climate change is already very real 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.880 for villages on an island in northern Alaska. They're being 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:27.840 forced out of their homes because of rising sea levels. 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:32.040 Anchorage, Alaska hit a record ninety degrees on the holiday. 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:35.520 Glaciers in the state melting at record rates, and climate 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:36.520 scientists say this. 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:38.680 Is bad news for all of us, not just Alaska. 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:43.040 Alaska is the biggest seafood producer in the country, and 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:47.480 fishing is a pillar for communities. In twenty nineteen, more 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:51.440 than sixty thousand people worked in Alaska's seafood industry, and 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:55.640 more than thirty one thousand fishermen were employeed through commercial fishing. 0:05:56.640 --> 0:06:01.000 Alaska's main export is seafood. This the state's seafood was 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:03.640 sold in more than one hundred countries around the world 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:06.320 in twenty nineteen, and it makes up more than half 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:10.080 of the state's annual export value, which averages a little 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:20.240 over three billion dollars annually. The state exports things like cod, salmon, crab, pollock, 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:23.719 items that you can probably find at your local grocery store. 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:28.280 And because of this thriving industry, over the years, Alaska 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:30.800 has drawn in workers from around the world to take 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:34.200 up fishing or work at fish processing plants also known 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:37.880 as canneries. Others have lived and worked in Alaska in 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:41.560 these jobs for generations, but one group that has followed 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:45.200 the work to the state are Latinos and Latinas. A 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:50.000 decade ago, about forty thousand Latinos called Alaska home. Today, 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:53.000 that number is close to fifty six thousand, or about 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.200 eight percent of the state's population, and about a thousand 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:59.200 of them live in Kodiak. It's a tight knit community 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:03.640 They and everyone else working in these industries are already 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:08.839 starting to see disruptions to their livelihoods because of climate change. 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:12.600 Research shows that Latinos and Latinas, and communities of color 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:17.880 in general, tend to be disproportionately impacted by climate change. 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.400 Fishermen in Alaska have witnessed the collapse of salmon and 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:26.480 cod in recent years. Those are slowly recovering, but last year, 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:30.080 the most recent fishery to crumble was a snow crab, 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:31.160 in a. 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:33.520 Major blow to America's seafood industry. 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:36.679 Alaska's Department of Fish and Game has canceled the winter 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.320 snow crab season and the Bearing Sea due to falling numbers. 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:44.240 It's estimated that about ten billion snow crab vanished in 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:49.560 the Bearing Sea, the cause, scientists say warming waters. In 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.040 twenty twenty one, the snow crab from the Bearing Sea 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:55.200 was an industry with an estimated worth of two hundred 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:59.239 million dollars. Scientists have kept an eye on the snow 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:03.560 crab for years. In twenty eighteen, they saw many young crab, 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:08.239 a sign the population was healthy. Then in twenty twenty 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:12.840 one those numbers began to drop. Yet no one imagined 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:16.360 a complete closure of the season just a year later. 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:21.560 This has left fishermen like Bethal wondering what might collapse 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:24.240 next and how will they get by. In the meantime, 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:28.360 I really wanted to know what exactly happened to the 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:31.600 snow crab near Kodiak, and what the fishermen and the 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:34.400 communities that depend on the money that this crab brings 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:40.360 in are doing to adapt. So in February, I traveled 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:48.840 from New York to Kodiak, Alaska to find out. When 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:52.160 I first arrived in the city of Kodiak, it's already dark. 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:55.360 It's eight PM, and I can barely see the outline 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:58.320 of the mountains and their jagged peaks that's around the city. 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.080 The city has a population of about five thousand people. 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:05.760 It's the island's main port, with two harbors where hundreds 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:09.240 of fishing boats tie up, both large and small. The 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.520 temperature is in the low thirties, which is pretty cold 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:15.040 for me since I'm from South Texas by the US 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:19.800 Mexico border. The wind is strong. I feel the cold 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:23.080 chill pulsate through my body and through my three layers 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:26.040 of clothing. I'm on a wooden dock in front of 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:28.880 The Arctic Lady, a boat that Federal who we heard 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:32.079 from earlier, works on. It's about one hundred and forty 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:37.079 feet long and weighs two hundred tons. It's massive. You're 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.960 going down ladder a triple boat the way you're going 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:43.360 down ladder here, I think, so we'll find out. 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:45.040 Just take your small tail. 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:45.840 Okay. 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:51.439 That's Chad Lowenberg. He's the Arctic Lady's captain. He's Fedro's boss. 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:56.240 Running the Arctic Lady is a family business. The boat 0:09:56.280 --> 0:10:00.400 has been around for more than forty years. I'm here 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:03.240 today because Chad wants me to see firsthand how the 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:06.880 collapse of the snow crab season is directly impacting his 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:10.360 life and the men he employs. Chad says when he 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.000 first heard the news, it was like someone knocked the 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:15.280 wind out of him. It was tough to break it 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:17.439 to his crew, but he promised them that he would 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:20.480 do his best to keep them busy with work through 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:23.960 the wind and rain. Illuminated by the boat's strong beams 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:26.800 of light, I see the ladder that Chad is talking about. 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:30.400 It's made of steel and it looks a little rusted. Underneath, 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:34.240 there's nothing but ocean, nothing to catch you if you slip. 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:37.360 And even more terrifying to me is that I don't 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:40.280 know how to swim. But I just flew thirty five 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:43.520 hundred miles to get here, so I'm telling myself that 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:46.760 there's no way I'm not getting on that boat. I 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:49.280 hold on tight to my backpack, which has all of 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:51.760 my audio equipment, and get ready to go down. 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:55.720 Red. Oh, I look it up. 0:10:56.640 --> 0:11:00.600 I slowly start to inch my way down step by step. 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.120 Chad shouts at me from above and says, I'll see 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:06.640 a rope when I reached the last step. The rope 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:08.960 will help stabilize me so that I don't fall when 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:11.560 I move from the ladder to the boat one leg 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:17.360 at a time, a more step, Chad can see that 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:20.760 I'm struggling feedro His crewmate steps in to help me 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:27.640 from the boat. Okay, Feather, who's forty eight, has been 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:30.760 working on the boat for twenty three years. He tells 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:33.360 me not to be afraid. He tells me to extend 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.160 my leg towards the boat. But I'm short, my legs 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:38.560 can't reach, and the gap between the boat and the 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:42.640 ladder is too wide. 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:45.480 Bed Ro, do you have a board you can put 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:47.440 across here a board. 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:52.640 Yeah, Featheral brings a makeshift plank and I slowly walk 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:53.240 across it. 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:54.679 Heads. 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:59.480 Oh, say say I made it on board. And when 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:03.360 I look around there's so much going on. A few 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:05.360 men are walking up and down the boat and will 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.320 look like orange rubber wet suits to protect themselves from 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:11.719 the water. A machine like a crane is moving a 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:15.160 massive steel bucket from the boat's deck onto the dock. 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:19.160 Above us, there are hundreds of tanner crab, not snow crab, 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.520 which tend to be a little smaller. Inside of the bucket. 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:26.240 These tanner crab are each about a foot wide, and 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:29.280 they have this brown and orange tint to them. I 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:34.240 can see their legs moving slowly. This is what Chad 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.920 wanted me to see. Bethro explains that they're doing something 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:39.280 called tenderine. 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:41.120 Parola Presta. 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:52.360 Pedro says, tenderine is when a boat transports a smaller 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:55.680 boat's catch to shore. In this case, because the Arctic 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.320 Lady is so big, it is able to fill up 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:00.680 with tanner crab and get it to the prossessing plans 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.679 on shore. Tonight, Pedro and the men are transferring two 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:08.400 hundred and fifty thousand pounds of tanner crab from large 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:11.319 tanks in the boat to a massive steel bucket. Then 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:14.199 that is moved onto the dock above us. It's a 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:16.600 side gig for Chad's crew, who is used to being 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:19.440 out at sea during this time of year, but they 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:21.760 took on the job for some income to help make 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:23.800 up for the canceled snow crab season. 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:27.480 Okay Okaki bucket. 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:36.360 Look, there's so much tanner crab on the boat that 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:39.280 it'll take Betherro and the men several day and night 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:43.719 shifts to finish unloading. Bethro arrived in Kodiak in the 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:47.000 early nineties, and he wasn't the only one. Two of 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:49.640 his uncles got here before him. They're the ones who 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.640 told Pedro about work at the local fish processing plant here, 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:55.880 and that seems to be common. Workers arrived by word 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:59.400 of mouth, some arriving in the late seventies and early eighties. 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:03.640 Back then, many of them were Mexican or Filipino. They 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:06.560 followed the work to the island. I can see now 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:10.559 how all of that migration transformed Kodiak, Like when Pedro 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:13.360 takes me to King's Diner right in town with his 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:17.920 friend jose Aldred Rodriguez, who's also from Esla Valdor, and 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:24.160 we used to work at a cannery. It's a quick breakfast. 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:27.760 I get some scrambled egg and black coffee, feather orders 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:31.800 pancakes and reindeer sausage and eggs. The diner is buzzing. 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:34.360 Every table was full, and I can pick up some 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:37.960 Spanish around me. The waitress comes by and she knows Pedro. 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:45.320 She speaks Spanish with him, olaf y. Just being here 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:47.880 at the diner for a couple of minutes, I can 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:54.240 instantly see how Latinos have made Kodiak their home. The 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:56.960 next day, I stopped by the Arctic Lady again to 0:14:57.040 --> 0:14:59.640 see how the crew is doing. As they continue to 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.480 trans for all the tanner crab to the local cannery. 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:05.600 I spot feathered on the deck standing by one of 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.760 the four tanks that are holding the crab Feedro is 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:11.400 wearing a thick blue jacket and he has gloves on. 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:14.960 In some ways, Bethro reminds me of my dad. They 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:17.560 had the same shade of brown skin from working outside 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.840 most of their lives. And he's also a little reserved, 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:22.920 but once you start to get to know him more, 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:27.680 he opens up Bethro looks down into one of the tanks. 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:30.640 There's a large ladder jetting out of it. At the 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:33.240 bottom of the tank, two men quickly fill a bucket 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:37.520 with crabs. Then the men climb out. I asked Pedro 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:39.120 if they've finished. 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:40.040 As breaking. 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:42.400 Rita. 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:47.680 Pedro says he and the men are now on break 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:50.600 because a cannery needs time to finish processing the crab 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:54.240 that's already there. After that they can start receiving more. 0:15:54.840 --> 0:15:57.160 And as Pedro talks to me, I see a large 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:00.240 hose next to him spewing a steady stream of water 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:08.080 down to the crab below in the tanks. During this 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:11.840 waiting period, they need to keep the crabs hydrated. If not, 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:15.440 they'll die, and if they die, that would mean less 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:18.760 money for them. At Pedro says this, I can tell 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:21.560 he's tired today. I hear it in his voice, and 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:24.520 I can see dark circles under his eyes. He hasn't 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:37.680 slept much away, he says, he only got two hours 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:40.920 of sleep. And even though they're not out catching snow 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:44.000 crab at sea, this physical work is still tough. 0:16:47.360 --> 0:17:00.520 Baramos as Sonamoss Cocincras this wife. 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:03.920 Lisa. 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:08.719 They usually start at around seven a m. And end 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:11.520 their day at midnight. They have dinner, then they sleep 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:14.639 five hours and do it all over again today with 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:17.399 Bethro on the deck. There are just a few men working. 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:20.320 Two of them are Latino and the other is Filipino. 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:22.920 The rest of its crew is made up of workers 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:26.159 from the local fish processing plant. Pedro says he and 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:29.919 the men expect to work another long night because they 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:30.919 still have two more. 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:41.720 Tanks to go, So whya pa la caza. 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:48.800 He hopes the current shift can finish one of these 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:51.480 tanks by six p m. So that the night shift 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:53.320 can get started on the last one. 0:17:53.560 --> 0:18:02.200 Lo lajenda almost single's ideas. 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:11.800 No, he never imagined he'd have to tender or catch 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.439 any other species of crab or fish during snow crap season. 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:19.680 That was always a full time, permanent job. It's something 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:25.760 he thinks about a lot, but he's grateful for the 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:32.320 work because otherwise he'd be sitting at home. Pedro has 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:35.880 three kids, the youngest thirteen and the oldest twenty six. 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:38.800 He also has a wife who works part time taking 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:41.280 care of children, and his mother in law lives with 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:44.480 them too. They need his income to make ends meet. 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:48.840 For his family, and on his mind is his family's future. 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:53.320 Because the work he's doing right now is temporary. Once 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:56.200 this gig is over, he doesn't know what comes next. 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:59.720 He's even toying with the idea of finding work outside 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:03.119 of the industry, outside of Alaska. 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:09.400 Coming up on Latino USA, we learn about the science 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:12.920 of what happened to the snow crab, and hear about 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:16.280 the lives both Pedro and Chad have created for themselves 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:19.480 and what it would mean if the snow crab were 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:24.040 never to return. Stay with uses. 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:38.320 Ola, I've thought. 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:44.360 A lifelong educator and the proud recipient of the Presidential 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:47.800 Medal of Freedom. Today, it's my great honor to wish 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:53.639 Latino USA a very happy thirtieth anniversary. Wuchisi Matgraskiez for 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:57.879 thirty years of informing, challenging and inspiring us. That you 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:00.040 see that is to all at Latino US. 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:08.919 Say hey, we're back. Before the break, we met Pedro 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:13.639 Gruz and Chad Loewenberg. They've been looking for side gigs, 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:16.679 temporary work to help them get by after the cancelation 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:21.080 of the snow crab season. Pedro and Chad have created 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:24.760 lives in Kodiak and this cancelation is having a direct 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:28.240 economic hit on both of them. But before we get 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:30.720 to that, we're going to learn about what scientists believe 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:34.000 happened to the snow crab. Right, let's get back to 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:38.840 the story. Here's Latino USA producer Rinaldo Leanos Junior once again. 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:45.240 And right now, as I'm walking on the sidewalk, there's, 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:48.720 you know, reminents of just a little bit of snow here. 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:51.639 It's early in the morning and I just left my 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:54.920 hotel room. I'm making my way to a NOAH facility 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:58.600 on the island. NOAH stands for the National Oceanic and 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:03.520 Atmospheric Administry. It's a federal agency focused on understanding and 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:08.840 predicting changes to the Earth's climate, weather, and oceans. It's 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:11.760 pretty cold out today. I have my thick jacket on, 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:15.639 a long sleeved shirt, an undershirt and long underwear. I 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:19.280 can still feel the cold and see my breath. I'm 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:22.200 heading there because I have the same questions people like Feedo, 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:25.600 Chad and others in the community have, like when is 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:29.919 the snow crab season expected to start again? The SNOWAH 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:32.600 facility is about a twenty minute walk, but I wanted 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:35.800 to see some more of Kodiak. As I'm making my 0:21:35.880 --> 0:21:38.720 way across the bridge, I see about a dozen huge 0:21:38.840 --> 0:21:42.240 bald eagles flying around, and I spot one sitting on 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:44.439 top of the lamp posts above me. As I walk by, 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:48.920 the view around me is breath taking. I look over 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:53.159 to my right and I see wind turned lines, And 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:57.920 as I look more directly to my left, that's where 0:21:57.920 --> 0:22:01.720 I see this big, be beautiful mountains, you know, with 0:22:01.840 --> 0:22:05.800 so many different peaks there, and those mountains are covered 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:10.359 with snow, and you know, it just really keeps forth. 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:15.480 After a couple of minutes of walking, I get to 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:18.280 the Noah building and meet Mike Litzo. 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:21.399 My name is Mike Litzo. I'm the lab director for 0:22:21.520 --> 0:22:24.440 the Kodiak Lab for the Alaska Fisheries Science Center. 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:27.480 Mike is not originally from Alaska. He grew up in 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:29.520 Ohio and he was born in Australia. 0:22:30.000 --> 0:22:32.240 Classic story where my wife got a job out in 0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:35.680 Kodiak working for Noah Fisheries, and I followed her. So. 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:39.320 Mike is considered a crab expert. He's been studying snow 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:43.000 crab for almost twenty years and he's the director of 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:47.200 the Kodiak laboratory here. Okay, so we're entering another room now. 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:50.680 He takes me downstairs to a saltwater research lab to 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:53.359 show me some of the work they're doing. He shows 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:57.359 me some crabs swimming in large tanks. They're actually snow crab, 0:22:57.800 --> 0:22:59.760 and it's the first time I see one alive while 0:22:59.760 --> 0:23:01.000 here in Kodiak. 0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:03.320 So this is the actual wet lab. 0:23:04.000 --> 0:23:07.560 So we're seeing sort of acres of large seawater tanks 0:23:07.600 --> 0:23:11.200 going off into the distance where where we maintain our crab. 0:23:11.920 --> 0:23:15.639 So we're able to experimentally mimic the conditions either that 0:23:15.760 --> 0:23:18.840 exist now or that we expect will exist in the future, 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:21.080 and then look at the response of these different animals. 0:23:21.880 --> 0:23:24.200 Mix is the reason they're doing this is to see 0:23:24.280 --> 0:23:26.680 if the snow crab have the potential to adapt to 0:23:26.800 --> 0:23:31.159 warmer waters. Carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels like 0:23:31.280 --> 0:23:36.760 coal and oil cause seawaters to get warmer. Snow crab 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:39.000 are not just found in the Bearing Sea, but also 0:23:39.080 --> 0:23:42.760 in waters near Japan and Greenland, and scientists are also 0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:46.960 keeping an eye on those regions. It's estimated that each year, 0:23:47.200 --> 0:23:51.240 thirty seven billion metric tons of carbon dioxide is released 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:54.320 into the Earth's atmosphere, and the US and China are 0:23:54.359 --> 0:23:58.560 the biggest polluters in the entire world. Global temperatures this 0:23:58.760 --> 0:24:02.200 year hit historic highs, and the temperature of the world's 0:24:02.240 --> 0:24:06.800 oceans also hit record highs. In Florida, for example, waters 0:24:06.840 --> 0:24:09.200 in the Gulf of Mexico got as hot as a 0:24:09.280 --> 0:24:09.760 hot tub. 0:24:11.400 --> 0:24:13.480 I mean, we can try there's no sound that comes 0:24:13.480 --> 0:24:15.240 off of a crowd, you know, we can pick one out. 0:24:15.280 --> 0:24:17.160 I don't know, what is that worth doing? 0:24:17.480 --> 0:24:19.760 Yeah, let's do that, and then you can't like splashing 0:24:19.840 --> 0:24:20.720 sounds of them. Yeah. 0:24:22.160 --> 0:24:23.800 Mike says he was part of a team that went 0:24:23.840 --> 0:24:26.800 to Dutch Harbor, also in Alaska, in twenty twenty two 0:24:27.200 --> 0:24:30.280 to conduct a survey of the snow crap population that's 0:24:30.320 --> 0:24:33.639 southwest of Kodiak, and the work is a collaboration between 0:24:33.720 --> 0:24:36.560 his office and the State of Alaska. That's when they 0:24:36.680 --> 0:24:40.040 notice a significant drop in the snow crap population. 0:24:40.640 --> 0:24:43.840 What we do is we charted two commercial fishing boats, 0:24:44.520 --> 0:24:47.159 and we put six scientists onto each of those boats 0:24:47.400 --> 0:24:50.879 and go out and do four hundred and fifty odd 0:24:51.480 --> 0:24:54.359 toes all the way across the Eastern Barren Sea on 0:24:54.520 --> 0:24:55.800 a grid patterns. 0:24:56.119 --> 0:24:58.240 A toe is when they cast a net and try 0:24:58.320 --> 0:24:59.840 to see what comes up in that net. 0:25:00.320 --> 0:25:02.560 So we've got these stations that we've been going back 0:25:02.600 --> 0:25:05.480 to you every year since the mid nineteen seventies, and 0:25:06.359 --> 0:25:08.440 we go out, we toe for half an hour, bring 0:25:08.520 --> 0:25:11.560 up the net, and then count and measure every fish, 0:25:11.680 --> 0:25:12.879 every crab that comes up. 0:25:13.400 --> 0:25:17.000 Mike says that back in twenty eighteen, the situation looked promising. 0:25:17.440 --> 0:25:19.880 They were seeing young snow crab that were almost big 0:25:20.040 --> 0:25:23.560 enough to be caught. But then things began to change. 0:25:24.080 --> 0:25:27.080 In twenty nineteen, scientists toed in about half the number 0:25:27.119 --> 0:25:29.840 of crabs, and they didn't do a survey in twenty 0:25:29.920 --> 0:25:33.440