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| AP: a walrus resting at Barrow, Alaska |
Thousands of Pacific walruses (
Odobenus rosmarus divergens), perhaps as many as 20,000, hauled out of the Chukchi Sea onto Alaska's coast this summer as sea ice continues to disappear. Arctic sea ice reached the third lowest extent on record by September 3rd. This year
has tied a previous record(2005) for the highest combined land and sea temperatures since record keeping began. Scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center think the Arctic could be ice free in the summer by 2030. Walruses are known to haul out in numbers on the Russian coast, but this is the first time such mass behavior has occurred in Alaska. Large numbers of the sea mammals began coming ashore in Chukotka, Russia and
around Barrow, Alaska in 2007, the record low ice year. Local Russians moved to protect the mammals, and two Chukotka communities created new protected areas around the haul out sites. US Fish & Wildlife began thinking about conservation efforts in Alaska, and last February brought Chukchi leaders to Alaska to conduct a series of village meetings from Point Hope to Barrow where conservation issues could be discussed. Starving polar bears could begin predation of the walruses on land as their seal prey become less accessible. This change in behavior could pose a problem to villagers who live near haul out sites. Adult walruses can weigh 2000 pounds or more. Biologists also fear for the animals health if they are confined to small areas of shoreline instead of dispersed over vast areas of sea where they rest and feed from the ice pack edge.