by ZACH SENN
Staff Writer
This year’s fishing season in Alaska came to a close due to dramatically low levels of cod populations. The closure of this industry that very many locals depend on is due to climate change more than the cod being overfished. During 2014, a major heatwave struck the Pacific known as “The Blob”, caused the ocean temperature to rise nearly 4 to 5 degrees. Since then, Pacific cod numbers have gone from 113,830 metric tons in 2014 to 46,080 metric tons in 2017 and has continued to plummet since. Some of the fishermen have already moved on to fishing elsewhere where populations of other fish are not in danger. However, those that have stayed do not know what is to come in the future. As of now, the federal cod fishery in the Gulf of Alaska will be closed for the upcoming 2020 season.