Polar bear sightings stir climate debate
Environmentalists say more are drowning in search of stable ice.
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — Federal wildlife monitors spotted nine polar bears in one day swimming in open ocean off Alaska's northwest coast, and environmental groups say the event is a strong signal that diminished sea ice brought on by warming has put U.S. bears at risk of drowning or dying from effects of fatigue.
"The impact of global warming is brutal and tragic for polar bears," said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity. "The only way to limit the number of bears that will drown and starve is to reduce greenhouse gas pollution immediately."
The number spotted Saturday on long-distance swims in the Chukchi Sea was higher than has been seen in similar surveys.
Polar bears spend most of their lives on sea ice, which they use as a platform to hunt their primary prey, ringed seals. Polar bears are powerful swimmers, but are at increased risk of drowning in high wind and rough seas, Siegel said.
Conditions last weekend, Siegel said, were similar to those that preceded drownings in September 2004. Four polar bear carcasses were spotted in the Beaufort Sea after a storm, and federal scientists extrapolated that others probably died.
Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in May declared polar bears a threatened species because of an alarming loss of summer sea ice in recent decades and climate models that indicate the trend will continue.
Summer sea ice last year shrunk to a record low, about 1.65 million square miles in September, nearly 40% less than the long-term average between 1979 and 2000 and most climate modelers predict a continued downward spiral, possibly with an Arctic Ocean that's ice free during summer months by 2030 or sooner.
Conservation groups fear that one consequence of less ice will be more energy-sapping, long-distance swims by polar bears trying to reach feeding, mating or denning areas.
The nine bears were spotted on a flight by a marine contractor, Science Applications International Corp., hired for the Minerals Management Service in advance of future offshore oil development.
The MMS in February leased 2.76 million acres within an offshore area slightly smaller than Pennsylvania.
Observers Saturday were looking for whales, especially bowheads, said project director Janet Clark, but they also record walrus and polar bears.
The bears ranged from 15 to 65 miles off shore. Many were swimming north, Clark said.
