Climate change moves Arctic ice northward, endangering walruses.

04/08/2006 00:00:00 October 2007. 40,000 walruses have hauled out near Ryrkarpiy village on the Chukotka Peninsula in the northwest of Russia. A nature reserve must be created to protect them, says WWF. This is first time the largest walrus haul-out on the Russian Arctic coast has happened on Kozhevnikov cape near the village of Ryrkarpiy.

‘The site is currently protected by some local people through the Russian Association of indigenous peoples of the North (RAIPON). The WWF wishes to strengthen this protection by creating a Nature Reserve. ‘Some scientists were skeptical when WWF proposed to protect the site. However recently the police became involved when some people tried to take advantage of the situation to hunt the walrus for their tusks. Walruses also tried to gather on the coast near villages to the west of Ryrkarpy, but local people were not accustomed to such large and accessible haul outs. Unfortunately they approached very close to the walruses to take photos and the walruses dispersed.

Walrus normally haul out of the water to rest and give birth during the summer. They are adapted to living on sea ice for most of the year. ‘Because of climate change, ice almost disappears from the Chukchi and East Siberian seas in summer’, says Viktor Nikiforov, WWF-Russia Regional Programmes Director. ‘Every year the Arctic ice retreats northward, which means that in coming years new haul-outs will appear on Chukotka Arctic coast. It also means that the Walruses will have to swim hundreds of kilometres from the ice edge to the coast with no chance to rest, and many will become exhausted. The sea without ice cover also has frequent storms, which will lead to the deaths of a large number of young walruses. Our common goal is to help walruses survive in this difficult time’.

There are similar reports from Alaska of unusually large numbers of walrus hauling out.