The article describes a Utqiagvik family's significant milestone in catching the first bowhead whale of the spring season, amidst challenges posed by climate change affecting sea ice stability.
The highly pathogenic influenza that just claimed its first known polar bear victim continues to circulate in the world’s wild populations.
About five beluga carcasses were left at the NARL Boat Dock on Aug. 8, causing smell and potential wildlife hazard in the area. The bones were cleaned the same day but the city reminded residents they can get help with cleanup after susbsitence hunting.
A wayward walrus calf, just one month old, was rescued from the North Slope. Workers on the North Slope spotted the baby walrus on tundra, about four miles inland from the Beaufort Sea.
Backyard Buoys project will give residents real time data such as wave height to whaling crews and communities throughout the North Slope. A system of buoys will be displaced across the slope this summer.
There are new signs that killer whales, which are swimming farther north and staying for longer periods of the year in Arctic waters, are increasingly preying on Alaska’s bowhead whales. A newly published study found that 2019, an especially warm year in the region, also seems to have been an especially dangerous year for bowheads.
The open ocean off Utqiagvik in fall and early winter is evidence of climate change. Remarkably, bowhead whales appear to be thriving, although there are new challenges. Kidney-worm infections have been detected in bowheads, possibly brought by other species of whales coming north. And then there are the killer whales, a natural predators of bowheads now venturing north.
It's been a challenging year for whalers in Utqiagvik. Crews started going out in September, but found the bowheads weren't appearing in their usual concentrations in the waters closer to shore. On the water Nov. 16 Panigiuq Crew landed the first whale of the season for Utqiagvik, later than many people can remember ever bringing one in before.
Aerial surveys this September and October show the bowheads aren’t where they usually are.
“I think it was a little more stable, and there was a little bit more assurance that the ice you were on was not going to disintegrate on you that easy,” said whaling captain Gordon Brower.
The two men, who were both part of an active whaling crew, were in one of the boats on a towline, towing a whale to shore, when their boat flipped, according to fellow whalers who were there when it happened.
Unusual Stellar sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) sighting in Utqiaġvik.
Sea ice has shrunk, but scientists are seeing signs that Alaska's bowhead whales are flourishing.
The ice conditions are similar to last year (with) lots of young ice and close leads," said Captain Frederick Brower. "We all went out and broke trail to the edge, but a high west wind came along and added about three-quarters to 1 mile of ice and (we) had to break trail through that and began whaling from the new edge ... . The conditions were not favorable but we made due with what we had and continued on with our whaling season."
A mysterious disease, possibly a virus, has afflicted ring seals along Alaska's coast, killing scores of them since July, local and federal agencies said on Thursday.
With relatively calm summer weather, an Utqiagvik crew landed at least 11 beluga whales this season, Wainwright was lucky to caught 50, and Kotzebue Sound saw the second-highest harvest in more than a decade, according to local hunters.
Most of the humpbacks were seen near the Inupiat village of Point Hope, indicating a feeding hotspot in that area. While sightings farther north have been less numerous, there has still been an increase in recent years. The study suggests that climate change and the reduction of Arctic sea ice may be a factor in the expansion of humpback whale range.
This early in spring, the season usually only starts, but the weather patterns have been changing, and so has been the harvest time, Donovan said.
Officials are encouraging the public to be safe, report polar bears in the area and never approach the animals, which can be “dangerous and unpredictable.”
North Slope experts think Indigenous experts should take the lead on wildlife management. When it comes to belugas, caribou and ice seals, managing agencies and researchers are often in charge of setting hunting regulations and analyzing the animals.
On the north slope, the whale brings together and sustains life for everyone. "We have a bond with the animals. They fed us, they clothed us, they sheltered us since time immemorial. Without them, we wouldn't survive the Arctic."
