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Article: On the edge of the ice: Changes in Bering Sea seafood harvest indicate ecological upheaval
- Article from:
- Sunday Gazette-Mail
- Article date:
- October 15, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2006 Sunday Gazette-Mail. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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ON THE BERING SEA - As the research vessel Thomas G. Thompson
steamed toward St. Paul Island, crab fisherman Wayne Baker was holed
up in the tiny Alaskan harbor, waiting for a break in the weather.
It hadn't been a great season so far.
"I've never seen so many blanks," said Baker, who set pots for
four days without pulling up a single crab.
St. Paul is a speck of land in the Bering Sea, the treacherous
expanse of water that separates Siberia and Alaska near the top of
the world.
Since Russian fur-traders came seeking otter pelts in the 1700s,
this northernmost reach of the Pacific Ocean has created fortunes and
claimed the lives of mariners drawn by its astounding bounty of
marine life. ...