Bishop Hill This year's walrus articles
Aug 13, 2015 Climate: WG2 So I wake this morning to find two stories about walruses in my Twitter feed. Why the sudden interest. There doesn't appear to be any news as such, but the Associated Press are telling readers that there is a steep decline in the walrus harvest in Alaska:
Hunters and scientists say walrus migration patterns are veering from historical hunting grounds as temperatures warm and the ocean ice used by the animals to dive and rest recedes farther north. Village elders also tell biologists the wind is blowing in new directions. In 2013, a late-season icepack clustered around St. Lawrence Island, blocking hunters from the sea.
Meanwhile the Washington Post is discussing the possibility of another mass haulout of walruses of the type that caught the public interest this time last year.
Last September, the remote community of Point Lay on Alaska’s North Slope became the focus of headline news when a staggering 35,000 walruses crowded onto the shore nearby. And now, some scientists are saying a similar event could happen this summer — in fact, any time now.
Now as BH readers know, there is little or no correlation between walrus haulouts and sea ice levels and the haulouts. The best bet is that walruses are doing rather too well and the haulouts are function of overpopulation. This is actually confirmed by the AP article, if you make it to the end:
There's no shortage of walrus, [hunter Robert Soolook said], but they're migrating sooner. No one has initiated any long-range planning to address the shift, but Soolook believes hunters eventually will need to change their practices, even going out earlier.
So to the extent that the sea ice decline is anthropogenic, there seems to be little effect on walruses and minor adaptations look as though they will deal with any knock-on effects on humans.
Guilt trip over.
Reader Comments (15)
So it's a case of baby walruses won't know what hunters look like any more? Send for Wadhams.
Out of which — of course — there is neither profit nor prestige to be gained.
From my experience in the UK, wind blows from all directions. Perhaps that is not the way of the wind in Alaska. I wonder which new directions have been observed.
Mass haulouts are not news! Written by idiots who know zero about walrus behavour. Happens at certain times EVERY year.
See Environment and Cycles, by James Steele a well known environmentalist and sceptic of the GHE and all other climate scares.
Perhaps this problem is being approached from entirely the wrong direction: could it be that there are just not enough carpenters, any more, to shoot the breeze from a better direction?
"In 2013, a late-season icepack ...": make up your minds, boys. Is the ice all melting or isn't it?
Dr. Susan Crockford:
Pacific walrus sob stories begin again
http://polarbearscience.com/2015/08/06/pacific-walrus-sob-stories-begin-again/
You reckon that's a problem.
I have been hunting wild dinosaurs for years. The only ones I have come across are those in captivity at the BBC.
Goo goo g' joob
Makes as much sense, surely?
"...the wind is blowing in new directions"...presumably in the direction of Paris?
We seem to be entering a period of "extreme" media windiness.
Walrus avoid areas containing hunters. Must be due to Global Warming.
'Blowing in new directions'. A lot of these old Eskimo expressions have stayed the same for years.
http://img.memecdn.com/eskimo-man_o_2480129.webp
Are "village elders" the new 97%?
What about carpenters? Are they endangered and thinning out as well?
More walrus on land is a sign of conservation success not climate disruption. Read historical reports of massive haulouts before being overhunted http://landscapesandcycles.net/hijacking-successful-walrus-conservation.html