By Diana Haecker

Earlier this week, a pod of about nine Bowhead whales were seen off the northern coast of Savoonga but young ice conditions around St. Lawrence Island prevented hunting. If local hunters hauled a whale out onto young ice, it would break apart.

About a month ago, residents of St. Lawrence Island found a patch of oily, white goo on the beach, along with some dead sea birds covered in the substance.

Instead of halibut, fisherman are increasingly catching less valuable Pacific cod, voracious bottom feeders whose numbers in recent years have exploded.

As spring walrus hunting season gets underway, residents of St. Lawrence Island talk about sea ice changes and how they affect the village.

Hundreds of birds washed up on the shores of St. Lawrence Island.