From sea monkeys to Great Salt Lake gold todayheadline

The shoreline of Utah’s Great Salt Lake frames an otherworldly body of water, from pastel pink to deep marine blue. In the fall, its surface transforms with slicks of gold—made from millions of brine-shrimp eggs called cysts. These tiny golden specks play a critical role in both the local ecosystem and global aquaculture, nourishing everything from eared grebes migrating along the Pacific Flyway to farm-raised salmon in Norway.

Great Salt Lake brine shrimp drive a fishing industry worth up to $60 million dollars a year that employs close to 150 seasonal workers in northern Utah each season. The catch supplies almost 45 percent of the world’s wild brine shrimp harvest and the golden eggs are exported to commercial fisheries on almost every continent. 

These tiny crustaceans also support a local ecosystem that keeps millions of migratory birds fed during critical layovers. While these two needs might seem to be in conflict, science-based management has turned the Great Salt Lake fishery into a global case study in sustainable fishing that balances the demands of both humans and wildlife.

Most people have heard of brine shrimp as “sea monkeys,” a children’s novelty known for hatching when added to water.  But commercial aquaculture operations discovered that brine shrimp were an inexpensive way to feed farmed fish and shrimp. Farmed fish now outnumber wild-caught fish, creating global demand for the cysts. Today, a fleet of boats circles the lake each year, skimming brine shrimp eggs out of the water and transporting them to onshore dryers, where they are canned and sold worldwide. Under the right conditions, they can be stored for years before hatching, a biological trait prized by the aquaculture industry.

In his nine years working with the brine shrimp sector, Tim Hawkes, chairman of the Great Salt Lake Brine Shrimp Cooperative board, has watched the industry flourish, while also stabilizing brine shrimp populations—making this critical food source more predictable for the wildlife that depends on it. “This is a great example of how good commercial management can create wins for the environment,” he said. “If the brine shrimp fishing industry went away tomorrow, it would harm the Great Salt Lake ecosystem.”

Before commercial fishing began on the lake, the brine shrimp were trapped in a roller-coaster cycle. Occasional population explosions would erode natural food sources, which then caused steep declines in the brine shrimp population the following season — creating an unreliable food source for migrating birds. “The harvesting smooths brine shrimp population levels, so they don’t have that boom-and-bust,” said John Luft, manager of the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

The industry’s harvest strategy here is also very different from many commercial wild-caught fisheries, which often work from quotas set before the season begins. Here on the Great Salt Lake, fishery managers rely on data updated weekly. Utah opens and closes its brine shrimp season based on regular sampling to determine the optimal concentration of brine shrimp eggs left in the lake water. Crews with the state’s Division of Wildlife Resources complete a circuit of the lake each week, collecting samples at 17 stations. Back in the laboratory, technicians count the number of brine shrimp eggs under microscopes, then share the numbers with regulators and harvesters.

Years of experiments show that an average of 21 brine shrimp eggs per liter of water is optimal for the following season’s hatch. When weekly counts approach that threshold, the agency orders boats off the water. “We need to ensure that we aren’t overharvesting the brine shrimp to the detriment of the wildlife,” said Luft.

The payoff of this management strategy is a stable food source. “When I first started in the early 2000s, if we saw a million migratory birds on the Great Salt Lake, that was a lot. Now we get between four and five million each season,” Luft said. Wildlife managers credit the steady food supply created by controlled brine shrimp harvest for the increase.

Well-managed regional fisheries like this can inspire better management practices around the world. The just-released Marine Stewardship Council Preserving Ocean Life report highlighted this fishery as a model for sustainable harvest. “The Great Salt Lake fishery is a great example of an ecosystem-based scientific management approach,” said Beth Polidoro, a scientist and research director who helped create the report. “They’re not just looking at the target species, but also the other species that rely on them, and they limit their harvests to support the entire ecosystem.”

But while the management of the fishery is a resounding success story, other threats, like drought and increased salinity, remain. In 2022, severe drought took water levels to a record low and increased the salinity of the lake, stressing both the brine shrimp and the algae they eat. 

The state’s active salinity management program helped temporarily reduce the salt levels, but declining water levels still pose a serious challenge. Studies estimate that the lake has already lost over 70 percent of its historic volume because of human water diversions and warming trends. If lake levels keep falling, evaporation will increase salt levels beyond the shrimps’ tolerance. 

Luft worries about another climate scenario, too: As global temperatures increase, milder winters may never freeze the lake to the degree required for brine shrimp egg production. “If it doesn’t ever get cold enough, I’m worried that those brine shrimp won’t produce cysts,” he said.

While the future may be uncertain, lawmakers are taking action now. Utah has begun funding wetland restoration and water-rights leases that could channel new flows to the lake. The industry works closely with state regulators, sharing extensive data with the state to help inform key decisions about the health of the lake. Hawkes believes public support is critical. “One hot, dry summer would put us down close to risk levels,” he warned. 

Community conservation efforts, like conserving water, can play a major role. Luft offers a simple math exercise: “If every family in the region saved 100 gallons a year that could be redirected to the lake, it would make a huge impact,” he said.Consumers can help in other ways, too. Choosing seafood with credible sustainability certification pushes seafood producers across the globe toward the beneficial management practices already at work in the Great Salt Lake. 

MSC’s Polidoro sees a template in the making. “We have the science we need for sustainable fishery management,” she said. “The challenge is getting it out there and getting it adopted.” These tools are already at work on the Great Salt Lake, demonstrating the power of science-based management, and creating a blueprint for sustainable fisheries everywhere.

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is an international non-profit organization, working with over 700 fisheries worldwide, that sets globally recognized standards for sustainable fishing and the seafood supply chain. The MSC program incentivizes the adoption of sustainable fishing practices and helps create a more sustainable seafood market. For more information visit msc.org.