Perilous Times and Climate Change
Rapidly Melting sea ice forces tens of thousands of walruses ashore in
Alaska
By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of walruses have come ashore in
northwest Alaska because the sea ice they normally rest on has melted.
U.S. government scientists say this massive move to shore by walruses
is unusual in the United States. But it has happened at least twice
before, in 2007 and 2009. In those years Arctic sea ice also was at or
near record low levels.
The walruses "stretch out for one mile (1.6k) or more. This is just
packed shoulder-to-shoulder," U.S. Geological Survey biologist Anthony
Fischbach said in a telephone interview from Alaska. He estimated their
number at tens of thousands.
Scientists with two federal agencies are most concerned about the
one-ton (0.90 metric tons) female walruses stampeding and crushing each
other and their smaller calves near Point Lay, Alaska, on the Chukchi
Sea. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to change airplane
flight patterns to avoid spooking the animals. Officials have also
asked locals to be judicious about hunting, said agency spokesman Bruce
Woods.
The federal government is in a year-long process to determine if
walruses should be put on the endangered species list.
Fischbach said scientists do not know how long the walrus camp-out will
last, but there should be enough food for all of them.
During normal summers, the males go off to play in the Bering Sea,
while the females raise their young in the Chukchi. The females rest on
sea ice and dive from it to the sea floor for clams and worms.
"When they no longer have a place to rest, they need to go some place
and it's a long commute," Fischbach said. "This is directly related to
the lack of sea ice."
Loss of sea ice in the Chukchi this summer has surprised scientists
because last winter lots of old established sea ice floated into the
region, said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data
Center in Boulder, Colo. But that has disappeared.
Although last year was a slight improvement over previous years,
Serreze says there's been a long-term decline that he blames on global
warming.
"We'll likely see more summers like this," he said. "There is no sign
of Arctic recovery."