Scientists say sea ice in the Arctic hit its seasonal peak on March 15 – and it was the lowest peak on record. That probably comes as a surprise for fishermen who work the Bering Sea, where sea ice kept expanding for another week and hit its highest peak since 2013, extending south all the way to parts of the Aleutian Islands.
Sea ice last month completely froze over Bristol Bay and the north end of the Alaska Peninsula, past Nelson Lagoon. It reached Cold Bay, Unimak Island – even the Pribilof Islands.
"The Bering Sea is the only place in the Arctic where sea ice is above normal," Rick Thoman said. “To our west, in the Sea of Okhotsk, so west of Kamchatka, it’s the lowest sea ice extent of record [as of March 19].”
Thoman, a climatologist with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness, said there’s been a persistent series of high-pressure storms that have caused significant sea ice growth in the eastern Bering Sea by holding colder air in that area this winter. But that has also prevented sea ice from forming west of the International Date Line in Russian waters.
“That big high pressure over the Bering Sea has steered many storms and their south winds into the Sea of Okhotsk," Thoman said. "They just have not been able to form much sea ice.”
The Bering Sea ice that formed at the end of the Alaska Peninsula around Cold Bay and False Pass is up to 10 inches thick, according to the National Weather Service’s Alaska Sea Ice Program. Thoman said that is thin compared to prior decades.
“We’re talking like Cold Bay area, and then to the west of St. Matthew Island; that water is quite warm. And so as soon as the weather pattern changes, we’re going to see the Bering sea ice extent decrease rapidly because the ice south of St. Matthew Island is very thin," he said.
Still, that sea ice is impacting commercial fishermen.
United Catcher Boats is a trade association that represents a majority of the catcher vessels in the Bering Sea inshore pollock fishery that fish around the Aleutian Islands and beyond. On Tuesday, March 31, the association shared videos on Facebook from some of its members like crew from the F/V Progress, plowing their boats through sea ice in the southeastern Bering Sea.
The Executive Director of United Catcher Boats did not respond to a request for comment. But the trade association said on Facebook that sea ice can be dangerous for fishermen, “ice changes everything. It takes constant awareness, experience, and extra effort to operate safely.”
Sea ice also has widespread impacts on the marine ecosystem. It drives various temperature-sensitive fish, like Pacific cod, into other areas. United Catcher Boats said years with high sea ice extent, like this one, raise questions about what impact it will have on the upcoming summer fisheries in the Bering Sea.
Thoman, the climatologist, said thinner offshore ice in the southeast Bering Sea is expected to break up this weekend, April 3-5.
