10s Of Thousands Of Walruses Come Ashore In AK - No Sea Ice: Mass Arrival 3rd In Past Four Years

[hatrack]

WASHINGTON – Tens of thousands of walruses have come ashore in northwest Alaska because the sea ice they normally rest on has melted. Federal 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 population of walruses stretches "for one mile 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 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.

EDIT

"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."

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sci_walruses_ashore

[FirstLight]

1. the last quote says it all...

"There is no sign of Arctic recovery."

This should be on all the news channels, shoutetd from the rooftops, but it falls on deaf ears.

thanks Hatrack for posting the updates so that those of us who are watching can see as things fall apart...I hate that it doesn;t change the way things are, but at least some of us are seeing it happen and paying attention...