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A new report published by Pacific Environment examines potential projects to protect and manage walrus and other ice-dependent species population in Arctic.

On both sides of the International Date Line, indigenous communities and scientists are seeing less sea ice and more walruses hauling out in greater numbers on land. The report explores the pivotal role these marine species play in indigenous peoples' way of life, the urgency to establish extensive marine protected areas, and the need to establish intercollaboration management efforts between indigenous peoples, scientists, and governmental agencies.
Executive Summary
While land-based haulouts are not a new phenomenon, the large numbers of walruses involved and changes in haulout patterns have sparked interest and concern. There are particular concerns for indigenous marine mammal hunters in Alaska and Chukotka (Russia), as they face hunting challenges due to reduced sea ice, unpredictable weather, and the northward shift in walrus movement.

Disturbances to haulouts can result in stampedes, which in turn can lead to mortality. Walrus carcasses left in the aftermath of a stampede can attract polar bears, which pose a danger to nearby villages. Disturbances come from planes and helicopters (including military aviation), cargo and cruise ships, fishing vessels, polar bears, and interactions with dogs and humans (including vehicles, tourists, and media trying to get images).

Disturbances on both sides have resulted from aviation and vessel traffic. Human interference has been a greater source of disturbances on the Russian side than on the U.S. side, given that there are fewer haulouts on Alaska lands and they are generally not adjacent to communities. It is unclear how climate change will affect walrus in the future. Some expect the walrus population to decline. Short of reversing climate change, strategies to protect and manage the walrus population can focus on avoiding or minimizing disturbances that affect walrus well-being or provoke stampedes.

The United States has extensive laws that relate to marine mammal protection, but no mandatory restrictions on aircraft altitude over walrus haulouts. There are a number of voluntary guidelines and examples of community initiatives and voluntary collaboration with agencies. While there are Russian laws governing marine mammals, endangered species, and activity near haulouts, they are not well enforced. Chukotkan communities bear the brunt of walrus protection but lack any legal authority.

Comparatively, there are more opportunities for co-management, collaboration, and consultation in the United States. Still, indigenous peoples on both sides have expressed concern about the limitations to their management roles. Top-down governance appears insufficient to adequately manage walruses. There is generally little desire to see more laws and rules legislated at high levels, particularly in the absence of local and indigenous participation and consultation.

There is interest on both sides in collaboration between indigenous peoples and scientists, and between Russian and U.S. agencies and communities. The seminar held at the Arctic Science Summit in Fairbanks, Alaska, from March 15 to March 16, 2016 was designed to bring these groups together to discuss priorities for management, as well as opportunities for international collaboration.

The seminar led to a better understanding of the current situation related to sea ice and marine mammals (namely the walrus), as well as existing and potential management laws and measures. Future meetings that focus on the entire Bering-Chukchi Sea ecosystem (beyond just the walrus) would be useful to participants and to walrus protection and management efforts.

The following strategies for protecting walruses and supporting the communities that depend on them are based on suggestions raised at the seminar and additional research. Most are more likely to be feasible on the U.S. side, but some could involve international cooperation. While these strategies are geared toward walrus protection, they could potentially apply to other pinnipeds, and (with some alteration) to other marine mammals. As emphasized at the seminar, it is important not to think of walruses in isolation, but as part of a larger ecosystem involving Chukotkan and Alaskan communities.

Protected Areas: Conduct outreach to get more insight into what kinds of protected areas, if any, stakeholders would support. Consider protections that target specific sources of disturbance rather than potential hunting restrictions.

Co-Management and Delegation: Explore ways to transfer more management responsibilities to communities. This may involve better utilization of U.S. laws providing for co-management, organically created co-management agreements, or management training workshops sponsored by non-government organizations (NGO's), universities, or agencies.

Cooperation with the Private Sector: Explore ways to have ships and aircraft voluntarily avoid hunting and haulout areas through agreements with major industry operators, or by advocating for insurance policies that require or incentivize compliance with voluntary guidelines.

Ensure that Consideration of Walrus Haulouts is "Mainstreamed" into Bering Strait/Chukchi Planning: Ensure that protection measures for walrus (and other marine mammals) are integrated into larger plans for the Bering and Chukchi regions (such as oil spill plans).

Adaptable Calendar Map with Regulatory Option: Create a publicly accessible, regularly updated Geographic Information Systems map showing migration routes, feeding areas, haulouts, and possibly subsistence areas throughout the Bering and Chukchi Seas. Establish voluntary buffers and altitude restrictions based on this map.1

Coordinating Website, Newsletters, and Calls: Establish a single, regularly updated website to keep track of past, ongoing, and proposed research, as well as guidelines, laws, permits, and advisories applicable to Russia and the United States. Prepare newsletters on recent developments in research, management, and development activities to circulate to communities and individuals that may not have regular Internet access. Hold conference calls with stakeholders where community residents could report disturbances and ask for corrective action.

Exchanges: Facilitate exchanges that bring together stakeholders from remote communities in Chukotka and Alaska along with regulators, researchers, NGOs, and scientists from both sides of the International Dateline.

View the full report

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Pacific Walrus Protection and Management in a Changing Climate

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A new report published by Pacific Environment examines potential projects to protect and manage walrus and other ice-dependent species population in Arctic. On both sides of the International Date Line, indigenous communities and scientists are seeing less sea ice and more walruses hauling out in greater numbers on land.

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1. They live up to 35 to 40 years of age.
2. They have been around for a long time
3. The Walruses numbers have been going down in the past years
4. One of the threats that the they have is global warming in the past years when there habitat is melting

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Research Shows Historic Decline in Pacific Walrus Population

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Pacific walrus population roughly halved between 1981 and 1999, the last year for which demographic data are available. A recent study by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey quantifies this historic population decline. The 18 year decline identified by the study was not steady across that period.

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THREATS: Walruses face severe threats from global warming and the associated recession of arctic sea ice. The disappearance of sea ice is forcing walruses to haul out on land during the summer, which limits access to feeding areas at sea and makes them vulnerable to trampling, predation, and human disturbances.

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Take action! Only 48 hours to protect the walrus

Crowded, shoulder-to-shoulder, tens of thousands of walrus are clinging to life on a tiny beach along the coast of Alaska. The Pacific walrus have no where else to turn-the sea ice they normally rest on is melting.

And, to make matters worse, scientists worry that walrus calves are in serious jeopardy. It only takes one spooked, one-ton walrus, to turn the beach into disaster-walrus stampeding and crushing each other in a panic.

The effects of global warming are making many species, like the Pacific walrus, endangered. They&rsquo;re struggling to find a place to live.

This summer, sea ice is reaching another record low-third only to the devastating lows of 2007 and 2008 that stranded unprecedented numbers of walruses on land.

Adding to the urgency, the federal government released a report saying there&rsquo;s a 40% chance that Pacific walrus will be on a path to extinction by century's end.

The Pacific walrus need our help-take action today.

Currently, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is deciding whether (or not) to list the Pacific walrus as an endangered species. They can't survive without the extra protections provided under the Endangered Species Act.

Help give the walrus a fighting chance! The deadline for public comments is this Friday. We have less than 48 hours to help save the walrus. Please speak up by taking a moment to tell the Service that extinction is forever-save the Pacific walrus before it&rsquo;s too late.

From Alaska,
Melanie Duchin
Arctic Program Director

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Take action! Only 48 hours to protect the walrus

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Crowded, shoulder-to-shoulder, tens of thousands of walrus are clinging to life on a tiny beach along the coast of Alaska. The Pacific walrus have no where else to turn-the sea ice they normally rest on is melting. And, to make matters worse, scientists worry that walrus calves are in serious jeopardy.

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Climate change is now one of the leading threats to wildlife. Find out what Defenders is doing to help animals around the country survive in a warming planet.

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1. THe Walruses do not have enough food for all of them.

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Pacific walrus numbers dropped by about half from 1981 to 1999, likely due to a combination of hunting and changes to the animals' icy habitat, according to new research from the U.S. Geological Survey, based on the most complete population data yet released on the difficult-to-study walruses.

The study, published online in the journal Marine Mammal Science, is the most up-to-date and comprehensive population information released about the large Arctic marine mammals that depend on dwindling amounts of floating summer sea ice to search for food, rest and raise their young.

The USGS study found that the walrus decline was steepest in the early 1980s, then moderated in the 1990s.

The study evaluated data from 1974 to 2006, including harvest records, age-structure surveys and five population surveys. It tracked calves and their fates, juvenile survival, adult walruses and other population dynamics, and is the first Pacific walrus analysis to do so in such detail, according to the study.

But it does not say how many Pacific walruses were actually around in the study period.

"We did not feel we could do a good job of estimating total population size," said Rebecca Taylor, a USGS research statistician and the lead author. "We were unwilling to make any statements about total population."

The Pacific walrus is being considered for Endangered Species Act protections, with listing considered warranted and a decision due by 2017, according to a U.S. District Court order resulting from a 2011 settlement agreement with environmentalists. Grounds for listing are climate changes in the Arctic, with reductions in summer sea ice forcing large groups of walruses to shorelines, where they endure crowded conditions and are far away from prime underwater food-foraging sites on the continental shelf. Possible oil development in the Chukchi Sea and increased ship traffic through Arctic waters are also considered possible threats to the walruses.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency responsible for managing Pacific walrus populations, has cited an estimate of 129,000 walruses, based on a 2006 U.S.-Russia population count. That estimate has many caveats, however, including a very wide margin of error and that it did not account for the animals' entire range, the Fish and Wildlife Service notes.

The new USGS study provides the Fish and Wildlife Service with "some good biological baseline information" to use in a listing decision, Taylor said. However, reliable long-term walrus population data -- needed for such a decision -- has been elusive, she said.

Counting walruses is notoriously difficult, Taylor said. The animals spend much of their time foraging for food underwater, where they cannot be seen by scientists on ships or aircraft, she said.

Walruses move over a vast area and, unlike territorial animals, may not return to any particular location by habit, she said.

"They're basically the gypsies of the sea," she said. It is difficult to identify different groups of walruses, she said, and "they go with the ice, so trying to make sure you have found all of the groups is an even bigger challenge."

The dominant reason for the population decline seen in the 1980s and 1990s -- whether hunting, sea-ice loss or some other factor -- remains undetermined, Taylor said.

"That's not known," she said. "What our paper talks about is historic trends."

Also not addressed is what habitat change, including sea-ice loss, or any other factors may be doing to the Pacific walrus population currently, Taylor said.

"Just because we document a decline in 1981 to 1999, that doesn't say anything about what's going on now," she said.

Population studies continue. The USGS, Fish and Wildlife Service and Alaska Department of Fish and Game have been jointly surveying walruses in the Bering Strait, with scientists trying a new genetic-marking method to try to get more accurate counts. A joint survey was conducted last year and this year, and is planned to continue in 2015 as well, officials said.

The USGS conducts an annual walrus-tracking program, in which satellite-radio tags are attached to animals so their movements across the Chukchi Sea can be recorded.

The 2014 tracking project is underway, and radio-tag signals show some walruses hugging the Northwest Alaska coast. That program has been going on since 2008.

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Pacific walrus population dropped drastically in 1980s-90s, study indicates

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The notoriously difficult-to-study Pacific walrus population decreased by about half between 1981 and 1999, likely due to hunting and changes to sea-ice habitat, according to a new USGS study that is considered the most up-to-date and comprehensive so far. The Pacific walrus is being considered for Endangered Species Act protections.

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Endangered.org