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USGS will tag Pacific walruses near Point Lay

August 16th 5:22 pm | Alaska Newspapers Staff Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

Researchers with the U.S. Geological survey said today that they will attempt to radio tag nearly three dozen walruses in northwest Alaska in August as part of an ongoing study to see how Pacific walrus are responding to reduced sea ice conditions in late summer and fall.

In 2010, walruses came ashore in late August. This year the ice has been disappearing from the continental shelf earlier and walruses have already begun to come ashore.

The effort to attach the satellite radio-tags to 35 walruses will be done in cooperation with the Native village of Point Lay, USGS officials said.

Walruses spend most of their lives at sea, but haul out on sea ice and sometimes land to rest between feeding bouts. They can dive hundreds of feet to forage on the sea floor, but when the sea ice recedes past the continental shelf into very deep waters of the Arctic Basin, the walruses haul out on land.

The extent of sea ice has been less in recent summers, and walruses have been hauling out on beaches in Alaska and Russia in the past few years. Thus, radio-tracking the walruses' movements in water and to and from land provides important insights into walrus movements and foraging behaviors in response to changing sea ice conditions.

Since 2004, the USGS Alaska Science Center Pacific Walrus Research Program has collected data on walrus foraging behavior and movements throughout areas of the Bering and Chukchi seas during periods when sea ice is present and absent over the continental shelf.

"Sea ice is an important component in the life cycle of walruses," said Chad Jay, research ecologist with the USGS Alaska Science Center. "These tracking studies will help us to better understand how top consumers in the arctic ecosystem may be affected by changes in sea ice habitats."

In July, the scientists attached 40 radio tags on walruses hauled out on distant offshore sea ice near the edge of the continental shelf, northwest of Barrow. This month researchers will tag a number of walruses that have come to land after the retreat of the sea ice from the shelf.

 

Alaska Newspapers Staff can be reached at editor@alaskanewspapers.com, or by phone at 907-348-2449

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