Tens of thousands of walruses have pulled themselves out of the Arctic ocean, beaching in never-seen-before numbers on Alaskan Arctic shores. Since the great Arctic sea ice melt of 2007 walruses, unable to hunt for food from the ice, have congregated on Arctic ocean beaches at summer's end. Walruses may be on the path to extinction.
Walrus researchers with the United States Geological Survey estimate there could be anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 of the mammals currently taking a rest along Alaska's Chukchi coastline. Ferreira, one of about 234 people who call Point Lay home, thinks the numbers may be even higher. Since only about 20 percent of walruses generally come to shore, scientists suspect another 80,000 walruses may be swimming nearby.
photo: USGS
Before the great melt of 2007, walruses didn't come ashore in massive numbers at summer's end. Mothers and pups fed on clams, worms and other marine life across a large area in the shallow waters between Alaska and Russia. Broken sea ice distributed across Alaska's Arctic waters served as resting platforms for thousands of mothers and pups.
Mother walrus with pup on Arctic sea ice floe
USGS photo
Since 2007 walruses have beached in large numbers because the sea ice around Alaska melted.
Univ of Illinois image
In 2009 hundreds of beached pups died.
On September 14, 2009, we encountered substantial numbers of fresh walrus carcasses on the Alaskan shores of the Chukchi Sea near Icy Cape. We enumerated 131 carcasses using geo-referenced strip transect photography and visual counts of solitary carcasses. All appeared to be young animals based on review of aerial photographs and reference to 12 carcasses that we examined on the ground. The events that led to the death of these animals are unknown, but appear to be related to the loss of sea ice over the Chukchi Sea continental shelf. In years prior to this event, other investigators have linked walrus deaths at other Chukchi Sea coastal haulouts to trampling, exhaustion from prolonged exposure to open sea conditions, and separation of calves from their mothers.
Both the USGS and the Center for biological diversity recently reported that rapid Arctic warming, the melting of Arctic sea ice and ocean acidification, threaten the walrus with extinction. The USGS report was released before this unprecedented haul out.
Pacific Walrus Faces Dire Future: Federal Report Predicts Extinction Risk Due to Global Warming
ANCHORAGE, Alaska— A new federal report today finds there’s a 40-percent chance that the Pacific walrus, a species imperiled by loss of sea ice due to global warming, will be on a pathway to extinction by the end of the century. Scientists with the Center for Biological Diversity say even that estimate is far too optimistic because the U.S. Geological Survey relied on modeling that underestimates the effects of climate change.
"Today’s report, although based on optimistic and ultimately unrealistic assumptions about sea-ice loss, reaffirms what is all too obvious: Unless we dramatically reduce our greenhouse emissions, the walrus is on a trajectory toward extinction," said Rebecca Noblin, the Center’s Alaska director. "The walrus clearly meets the criteria for protection under the Endangered Species Act."
The USGS used climate models that underestimate emissions, warming and rates of Arctic sea-ice loss. The report also dismissed as negligible the impacts from reduced food supply for the walrus. Sea-ice loss in the Bering Sea is already leading to declines in the walrus’s bottom-dwelling prey; ocean acidification is making Arctic waters increasingly corrosive and potentially lethal to the clams and mussels it eats. Still, the USGS determined that these threats have negligible influences on the walrus’s future. The study would have found a significantly worse outlook for walruses if it had used more realistic assessments of these threats.
While global warming and ocean acidification are the greatest threats to the Pacific walrus, the species is also threatened by the Interior Department’s plans to allow offshore oil drilling in its Chukchi Sea habitat.
The dire warnings of the Center for biological diversity need to be heeded by placing the walrus on the endangered species list. Climate change threatens the ecosystems of the Arctic ocean.