Walruses by the thousands forced ashore by melting sea ice, Walruses by the thousands are being forced to congregate on a remote barrier island near Point Lay, Alaska, because the Arctic sea ice they typically use is melting.
Ten years ago, Alaskan natives in Point Lay were used to seeing a handful at most come to shore each year, but now the walruses are coming en masse almost annually.
Last year, a record 30,000 walruses were forced ashore. It’s too soon to say if this year’s “haul out” will be more, as it is ongoing, but it is the third earliest of the seven that have occurred in the past nine years, according to data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It began about August 20 on the barrier island along Kasegaluk Lagoon, locals told photojournalist Gary Braasch of Portland, Oregon.
“We’ve seen rising temperatures, both sea surface and air temperatures in the Arctic, probably twice as fast here as anywhere else in the lower latitude,” Jim MacCracken, a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a Friday media conference call.
“The ice has been going out at a faster rate [and] sooner each year, and freeze-up is coming up later each year. And of course when the ice completely melts out, the walruses have to eventually come to shore and haul out. They spend a week in the ocean before they have to come to shore and haul out.”
It is upon this backdrop that President Obama will become the first U.S. president to visit the Alaskan Arctic on Monday. Among the places he will visit on the three-day visit is Kotzebue, located about 200 miles south of the walruses, Dillingham and the Seward area “where he will have the opportunity to view the effects of climate change firsthand,” according to a White House spokesperson.
Three days after the haul out began near Point Lay, Braasch snapped photos of the thousands of walruses, as you see in this post.
Leo Ferreira III, president of the Point Lay Tribal Council, said in the conference call that Braasch disobeyed flight restrictions and the council’s request not to come, as any type of disturbance can cause a stampede and cost the lives of young walruses.
Braasch denied the allegation, telling The Guardian the pilot did not fly over the barrier island and intentionally remained several hundred feet beyond the Fish and Wildlife flight guidelines to avoid disturbing the walruses.
“We were not even close to the limits they set,” Braasch told The Telegraph.
The USFWS said in the conference call it is investigating the matter.Considering the distance required to be away from the animals to avoid disturbing them and from a light plane, I got some sharp frames,” Braasch told GrindTV.
Braasch posted his photos on his website called “World View of Global Warming, the Photographic Documentation of Climate Change,” and gave GrindTV permission to use them.
In a nutshell, Braasch summed up what is happening with the walruses:
“Summer sea ice is retreating far north of the shallow continental shelf waters of the Chukchi Sea in U.S. and Russian waters, a condition that did not occur a decade ago, according to USGS scientists,” he wrote. “Sea ice is currently far to the north, over very deep water which is not feeding habitat for the walrus, who eat clams, snails, worms, sea cucumbers, and tunicates from the shallow sea floor. Thus the animals have begun retreating back south into the shallow coastal waters and the beach of the barrier island.”
Bad weather has prevented officials in Point Lay from surveying the walruses since Braasch photographed them on Aug. 23.
Ten years ago, Alaskan natives in Point Lay were used to seeing a handful at most come to shore each year, but now the walruses are coming en masse almost annually.
Last year, a record 30,000 walruses were forced ashore. It’s too soon to say if this year’s “haul out” will be more, as it is ongoing, but it is the third earliest of the seven that have occurred in the past nine years, according to data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It began about August 20 on the barrier island along Kasegaluk Lagoon, locals told photojournalist Gary Braasch of Portland, Oregon.
“We’ve seen rising temperatures, both sea surface and air temperatures in the Arctic, probably twice as fast here as anywhere else in the lower latitude,” Jim MacCracken, a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a Friday media conference call.
“The ice has been going out at a faster rate [and] sooner each year, and freeze-up is coming up later each year. And of course when the ice completely melts out, the walruses have to eventually come to shore and haul out. They spend a week in the ocean before they have to come to shore and haul out.”
It is upon this backdrop that President Obama will become the first U.S. president to visit the Alaskan Arctic on Monday. Among the places he will visit on the three-day visit is Kotzebue, located about 200 miles south of the walruses, Dillingham and the Seward area “where he will have the opportunity to view the effects of climate change firsthand,” according to a White House spokesperson.
Three days after the haul out began near Point Lay, Braasch snapped photos of the thousands of walruses, as you see in this post.
Leo Ferreira III, president of the Point Lay Tribal Council, said in the conference call that Braasch disobeyed flight restrictions and the council’s request not to come, as any type of disturbance can cause a stampede and cost the lives of young walruses.
Braasch denied the allegation, telling The Guardian the pilot did not fly over the barrier island and intentionally remained several hundred feet beyond the Fish and Wildlife flight guidelines to avoid disturbing the walruses.
“We were not even close to the limits they set,” Braasch told The Telegraph.
The USFWS said in the conference call it is investigating the matter.Considering the distance required to be away from the animals to avoid disturbing them and from a light plane, I got some sharp frames,” Braasch told GrindTV.
Braasch posted his photos on his website called “World View of Global Warming, the Photographic Documentation of Climate Change,” and gave GrindTV permission to use them.
In a nutshell, Braasch summed up what is happening with the walruses:
“Summer sea ice is retreating far north of the shallow continental shelf waters of the Chukchi Sea in U.S. and Russian waters, a condition that did not occur a decade ago, according to USGS scientists,” he wrote. “Sea ice is currently far to the north, over very deep water which is not feeding habitat for the walrus, who eat clams, snails, worms, sea cucumbers, and tunicates from the shallow sea floor. Thus the animals have begun retreating back south into the shallow coastal waters and the beach of the barrier island.”
Bad weather has prevented officials in Point Lay from surveying the walruses since Braasch photographed them on Aug. 23.
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