Walruses appear early as ice recedes

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Thousands of Pacific walruses have come to shore off the northwest coast of Alaska in their earliest appearance since sea ice has substantially receded.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage received a report that several thousand walruses were gathered July 30 on the barrier island off the coast of Point Lay, a Chukchi Sea village of 215 about 700 miles northwest of Anchorage, spokeswoman Andrea Medeiros said.

“This is the earliest date that large numbers of walruses have been confirmed on shore at Point Lay,” she said in an email response to questions, and the first time a herd has been seen as early as July.

Sea ice along northern Alaska disappeared far earlier than normal this spring as a result of exceptionally warm ocean temperatures.

Since 1981, an area more than double the size of Texas — 610,000 square miles — has become unavailable to Arctic marine mammals by summer’s end, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Sea ice allows immature walruses to rest as their mothers dive over the shallow continental shelf to eat clams and snails. However, when ice recedes beyond the shelf, walruses are forced to beaches to rest in Alaska and Russia.