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Author Topic: Effects on Arctic Wildlife  (Read 27447 times)

b_lumenkraft

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #50 on: February 20, 2019, 08:02:29 PM »
Ha! Good news for once.

Keep them coming, please.

vox_mundi

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #51 on: April 29, 2019, 12:39:14 AM »
Russian Navy Beluga Whale
http://www.hisutton.com/Russia_Navy_Beluga_Whale.html

Fishermen in Finnmark in northern Norway recently found a Beluga whale wearing a tight harness for external equipment. The whale was first sighted near the island of Ingøy early in the week of 22nd April 2019, with photos taken and the harness removed on 24th April. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the whale escaped from a Russian Navy program, most likely during an exercise.

The location is on the edge of the whale’s natural arctic habitat, but the whale has clearly escaped from captivity. It was tame and returned to the local fishermen on several occasions until they were able to remove the harness. When removed, the harness was found to include the label “Equipment of St. Petersburg”. It is not thought that Russian scientists (nor Norwegian scientists!) use harnesses in this way during research, and all fingers are pointing to the Russian Navy based nearby on the Kola Peninsular.

... The harness was reported to be for a camera, likely similar to a go-pro. This implies use in underwater reconnaissance, possibly of objects on the sea floor.

The Soviet Navy operated a marine mammal program in the Black Sea but this was subsequently closed. This discovery demonstrates that the Russian Navy is still working with marine mammals, this time in the Arctic.

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Whale with harness could be Russian weapon, say Norwegian experts 
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/29/whale-with-harness-could-be-russian-weapon-say-norwegian-experts

... A 2017 report by TV Zvezda, a station owned by the defence ministry, revealed that the Russian navy has again been training beluga whales, seals and bottlenose dolphins for military purposes in polar waters.

The recent research and training was done by Murmansk Sea Biology Research Institute in northern Russia on behalf of the navy to see if beluga whales could be used to “guard entrances to naval bases’” in arctic regions, “assist deepwater divers and if necessary kill any strangers who enter their territory”.

Dolphins and seals meanwhile were trained to carry tools for divers and detect torpedoes, mines, and other ammunition which has sunk to depths of up to 120 metres. Government public records records show that the defence ministry purchased five bottle-nosed dolphins, aged between three and five, from Moscow’s Utrish Dolphinarium in 2016 at a cost of £18,000.

During their research the Murmansk sea biology research institute concluded dolphins and seals were much more suited to the training and arctic climates than the beluga whales. The whales were deemed too sensitive to the cold and did not have the same “high professionalism” of seals, which had a far better memory for remembering oral commands
« Last Edit: April 29, 2019, 08:46:39 AM by vox_mundi »
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vox_mundi

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #52 on: May 23, 2019, 01:40:07 PM »
Study Predicts Shift to Smaller Animals Over Next Century
https://phys.org/news/2019-05-shift-smaller-animals-century.html

Researchers predict the average (median) body mass of mammals specifically will collectively reduce by 25 per cent over the next century. This decline represents a large, accelerated change when compared with the 14 per cent body size reduction observed in species from 130,000 years ago (the last interglacial period) until today.

In the future, small, fast-lived, highly-fertile, insect-eating animals, which can thrive in a wide-variety of habitats, will predominate. These 'winners' include rodents, such as dwarf gerbil—and songbirds, such as the white-browed sparrow-weaver. Less adaptable, slow-lived species, requiring specialist environmental conditions, will likely fall victim of extinction. These 'losers' include the tawny eagle and black rhinoceros.

... "The substantial 'downsizing' of species which we forecast could incur further negative impacts for the long-term sustainability of ecology and evolution. This downsizing may be happening due to the effects of ecological change but, ironically, with the loss of species which perform unique functions within our global ecosystem, it could also end up as a driver of change too."

Findings are published in detail in the journal Nature Communications. 

Open Access: R. Cooke, et.al., Projected losses of global mammal and bird ecological strategies, Nature Communications (2019)

Quote
... The future defaunation explored here also shows parallels to historic extinction events, such as the late Quaternary extinctions, which likely disrupted species interactions, reduced long-distance seed dispersal, and fundamentally restructured energy flow and nutrient cycling through communities. Moreover, a growing number of studies support the hypothesis that the late Quaternary extinctions had cascading effects on small vertebrates and plant community biodiversity and function, resulting in ecosystem shifts comparable in magnitude to those generated by climatic fluctuations   
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

vox_mundi

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #53 on: May 30, 2019, 12:03:51 AM »
Mass Die-Off of Puffins Recorded in the Bering Sea 
https://phys.org/news/2019-05-mass-die-off-puffins-bering-sea.html

A mass die-off of seabirds in the Bering Sea may be partially attributable to climate change, according to a new study publishing May 29 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Timothy Jones of the citizen science program COASST at University of Washington, Lauren Divine from the Aleut Community of St Paul Island Ecosystem Conservation Office, and colleagues. The birds appeared to have died from the effects of starvation.

Beginning in 2014, increased atmospheric temperatures and decreased winter sea ice led to declines in energy-rich prey species in the Bering Sea, as well as a shift of some species more northward, diminishing puffin food resources in the southern portion of the sea.

Beginning in October 2016, tribal and community members recovered over 350 severely emaciated carcasses, mostly adults in the process of molting, a known nutritional stressor during the avian life cycle. A reduction in food resources before entering molt may have prevented many birds from surviving, the authors suggest. Using wind data to model beachings, they calculated between 3,150 and 8,500 birds could have died in the event. Tufted puffins comprised 87% of this total, or 40-100% of the Pribilofs Islands' population

The authors suggest that climate-driven shifts in prey abundance and/or distribution, combined with the onset of molt, may have caused this puffin die-off, and note that further climate variability in this region is probable.   

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216532
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

jai mitchell

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #54 on: June 03, 2019, 08:57:06 PM »
Another story on the Puffin die-off in the Bering Sea

https://weather.com/news/news/2019-05-30-puffins-dead-starved-bering-sea

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Some of the carcuses were sent for necroscopies, which showed they had unusually low levels of body fat and weak pectoral muscles. That led researchers to conclude the birds had starved.

“They literally didn’t have enough to eat and became weak to the point of death,” Julia Parrish, an ecologist at the University of Washington and one of the study's researchers, told the Atlantic.

When the birds first started washing up, Parrish and others theorized that the puffins' diet was lacking in energy-rich food sources. The new research supports that claim. Typically, the birds feed on fish which in turn rely on plankton as their main nutritional source.

But both those food sources are becoming more scarce due to increased sea and atmospheric temperatures, as well as declining winter sea ice in the Bering Sea. Those factors are driving the puffins' food sources to find colder waters farther north
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Tom_Mazanec

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #55 on: June 11, 2019, 01:43:43 AM »
The ice algae is being endangered, this will ripple up into arctic wildlife:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/08/world/arctic-beneath-ice-intl/index.html

vox_mundi

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #56 on: June 14, 2019, 04:36:24 AM »
Tons of Dead Seals Are Washing Up In the Arctic and Nobody Knows Why 
https://www.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/pajvp8/tons-of-dead-seals-are-washing-up-in-the-arctic-and-nobody-knows-why

A mysterious string of seal deaths along an Alaskan coastline has triggered a federal investigation.

The carcasses of at least 60 ice seals—bearded, ringed, and spotted seals—have been discovered near the Arctic’s Bering and Chukchi seas on Alaska’s western coast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced in a press release on Wednesday.

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/media-release/noaa-fisheries-responding-multiple-dead-ice-seals-bering-sea-region

The agency received multiple reports of dead seals on Monday in Norton Sound, a Bering Sea inlet and subsistence hunting area for Indigenous communities. A hunter from the local city of Kotlik found 18 carcasses along 11 miles of shoreline, and “dozens” more across the bay on Stuart Island, NOAA said.

Further north, a biologist with the National Park Service encountered six dead seals along the Chukchi shoreline between Kotzebue Airport and Sadie Creek, NOAA added. Members of the public also reported 30 carcasses up the coast between Kivalina and Point Hope.

...  NOAA likened these symptoms to an event that killed 233 seals between 2011 and 2016 in northern Alaska. At least 657 dead and live seals presented with hair loss and lesions that were ultimately blamed on an “abnormality of the molt.” The agency declared it an Unusual Mortality Event, defined as “a stranding that is unexpected; involves a significant die-off of any marine mammal population; and demands immediate response.”

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Alaskans find more dead seals along warming Arctic Sea
https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1TE010

Ice in the Bering and Chukchi seas has been far scarcer than normal, and sea-surface temperatures have been far higher than usual, according to scientists and agency reports. But the cause of the seal die-off is as yet unknown, said Julie Speegle, an Alaska spokeswoman for NOAA Fisheries.

Sea-surface temperatures along the coastlines of the Bering Sea and the southern Chukchi Sea were as much as 4.5 degrees Celsius (8.1 Fahrenheit) above normal last month and remained well above normal as of this week, according to NOAA data.

Bearded, spotted and ringed seals use sea ice as platforms for food foraging, for resting and for raising their young. Alaska's bearded and ringed seals are currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The reports of dead seals, which started in May and come from village residents and a National Park Service biologist, coincide with mounting discoveries of dead gray whales along the West Coast from California to Alaska.

-------------------------

Coincidentally, the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (including submarines) recently sailed to Alaska and is conducting War Games in the area.

« Last Edit: June 14, 2019, 04:50:32 AM by vox_mundi »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Midnightsun

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #57 on: June 14, 2019, 09:52:29 AM »
Here's a lil theory on the deaths: the zooplankton collapsed due to starving on microplastics, and the dominos fell all the way up the chain.

vox_mundi

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #58 on: June 14, 2019, 01:33:44 PM »
Or the plankton & zooplankton overheated, the fish scattered - same net result ...



... microplastics don't help, either.
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

vox_mundi

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #59 on: June 20, 2019, 09:37:30 PM »
Researchers Confirm Narwhals and Belugas Can Interbreed
https://phys.org/news/2019-06-narwhals-belugas-interbreed.html


Skull morphology of (a) beluga, (b) MCE1356, and (c) narwhal

A team of University of Copenhagen researchers has compiled the first and only evidence that narwhals and beluga whales can breed successfully. DNA and stable isotope analysis of an anomalous skull from the Natural History Museum of Denmark has allowed researchers to confirm the existence of a narwhal-beluga hybrid.

For nearly thirty years, a strange-looking whale skull has gathered dust in the collections of the Natural History Museum of Denmark. Now, a team of researchers has determined the reason for the skull's unique characteristics: it belongs to a narwhal-beluga hybrid.

A Greenlandic hunter shot the whale in the 1980's and was puzzled by its odd appearance. He therefore kept the skull and placed it on the roof of his toolshed. Several years later, Professor Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen of the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources visited the settlement and also immediately recognized the skull's strange characteristics. He interviewed the hunter about the anomalous whale he had shot, and sent the skull to Copenhagen. Since then, it has been stored at the Zoological Museum, a part of the Natural History Museum of Denmark.

"As far as we know, this is the first and only evidence in the world that these two Arctic whale species can interbreed. Based on the intermediate shape of the skull and teeth, it was suggested that the specimen might be a narwhal-beluga hybrid, but this could not be confirmed. Now we provide the data that confirm that yes—it is indeed a hybrid," says Eline Lorenzen, evolutionary biologist and curator at the University of Copenhagen's Natural History Museum of Denmark. Lorenzen led the study, which was published today in Scientific Reports.



The hybrid's skull was considerably larger than that of a typical narwhal or beluga. But the teeth were markedly different. Whereas narwhals have only one or rarely two long spiraling tusks, belugas have a set of uniform conical teeth that are aligned in straight rows. The hybrid skull has a set of long, spiraling and pointed teeth, that are angled horizontally.

"This whale has a bizarre set of teeth. The isotope analysis allowed us to determine that the animal's diet was entirely different than that of a narwhal or beluga—and it is possible that its teeth influenced its foraging strategy. Whereas the other two species fed in the water column, the hybrid was a bottom dweller," according to Mikkel Skovrind, a Ph.D. student at the Natural History Museum and first author of the paper.

Open Access: Mikkel Skovrind et al. Hybridization between two high Arctic cetaceans confirmed by genomic analysis, Scientific Reports (2019)

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Beluga Whales Adopt Lost Narwhal in St. Lawrence River
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/belugas-narwhal-stlawrence-1.4820602

An unusual visitor has been hanging out in the St. Lawrence River for the past three years: A narwhal, more than 1,000 kilometres south of its usual range.

But the lone narwhal is not alone — it appears he has been adopted by a band of belugas.

The narwhal — thought to be a juvenile male because of its half-metre-long tusk — was filmed in July playing among a pod of young belugas, thought to be mostly or all males.

The video was taken by the Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals (GREMM), a non-profit group dedicated to whale research, conservation and education based in Tadoussac, Que.

"It behaves like it was one of the boys," said Robert Michaud, the group's president and scientific director.

The interactions between the narwhal and the belugas appear to be identical to those among just the belugas, suggesting the narwhal has been fully accepted as part of the group.

------------------------

Russia to Release 100 Illegally Captured Whales
https://phys.org/news/2019-06-russia-illegally-captured-whales.html

Russian officials have launched an operation to release nearly 100 illegally captured whales whose confinement in Russia's far east has become a rallying cry for environmentalists.

... Russian prosecutors have brought criminal charges against four companies keeping the whales.

--------------------------------

Russians Capture Hungry Polar Bear Roaming Arctic City
https://phys.org/news/2019-06-russians-capture-hungry-polar-roaming.html

“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Rod

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #60 on: July 18, 2019, 02:40:05 AM »
S1 is going to have a long swim back to shore.

However, I have been following this researcher for a while, and the tagged bears always seem to make it back.  They can swim really long distances.

He has also been saying that this year the polar bears in the Hudson seem to be doing well.  The longer the ice lasts and they can stay at sea, the better off they are.  It is when they get to land that they have trouble finding food.

Rod

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #61 on: July 25, 2019, 03:43:11 AM »
The bears are starting to make it back to shore.

S1 has not made much progress, and I’m a little worried about E3. It is a good thing polar bears are such good swimmers!

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #62 on: July 26, 2019, 12:39:41 AM »

Rod

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #63 on: July 29, 2019, 05:07:26 AM »
More sad news for arctic wildlife.

Over 200 dead reindeer found on Norway's Arctic Svalbard

https://gulfnews.com/world/europe/over-200-dead-reindeer-found-on-norways-arctic-svalbard-1.1564238906266

vox_mundi

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #64 on: August 03, 2019, 02:03:46 AM »
Arctic 'Miracle': Icebreaker Salvages Lost Recordings of Beluga Whales
https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1US171

KIRUNA, Sweden (Reuters) - A year-long recording of the songs of Beluga whales has been salvaged from the Arctic after the crew of a Swedish icebreaker chanced upon a research buoy adrift in hazardous pack ice.

A team tracking the device from California said they had almost given it up for lost when a "miracle" run of events allowed the vessel, the Oden, to stage an impromptu rescue while navigating through a channel in the far north of Canada.


... Loose was speaking in video footage transmitted from the Oden to his university and shared with Reuters.

The Northwest Passage Project, which groups various academic institutions, has staged three live broadcasts from the Oden via social media and dozens of public events in the United States.

The icebreaker cast off from Thule, Greenland on July 18 and has conducted a series of experiments with the help of students on board. The vessel is due to return to Thule on Sunday.

See also: https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,2759.msg213156.html#msg213156.
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

vox_mundi

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #65 on: September 16, 2019, 05:01:03 PM »
NOAA Declares Unusual Mortality Event for Arctic Ice Seals
https://www.alaskapublic.org/2019/09/12/noaa-declares-unusual-mortality-event-for-arctic-ice-seals/

On Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared an Unusual Mortality Event for several species of ice seals in Arctic waters. Since June 2018, NOAA has documented 282 dead seals in the Bering and Chukchi Seas. 

“For the past two years, the number of stranded ring, bearded and spotted seals is about five times more than is usual,” said NOAA spokeswoman Julie Speegle.



Speegle says scientists haven’t yet identified a cause for the rise in seal deaths. But researchers and local residents have observed several changes to the seals and their habitat, such as lack of sea ice and an increase in illnesses.

“We have made some observations that the past couple years have been warmer than usual. So that’s one of many factors we’re looking into,” Speegle said. “We are also looking into the possibility that these animals may have been affected by harmful algal blooms, which also occur when the sea temperatures are warmer than usual.”

Both the ringed and bearded ice seals are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Tom_Mazanec

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #66 on: September 16, 2019, 05:20:53 PM »
With Drilling ANWR a Go, Polar Bears Will Suffer
https://www.outsideonline.com/2402095/anwr-drilling-doi-polar-bears
Quote
Oil and gas exploration requires locating resource deposits and identifying drilling sites using seismic surveying. That process involves sending high pressure vibrations into the ground, at 135 foot intervals, across the entire region. To conduct that process, teams of 150 to 160 workers living in mobile camps must move heavy equipment over virtually every inch of the survey area using 90,000-pound trucks. And that process must occur in the winter, when the frozen ground can support the weight of those vehicles; the same time in which the bears are giving birth to cubs and raising them in dens through the first three months of their lives.

Bruce Steele

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #67 on: September 16, 2019, 05:29:14 PM »
Vox-Mundi , C-CAN (Calif. Current Acidification Network) will be hosting a talk by Dave Hutchins on the increased toxicity of pseudo nitzschia when exposed to both acidification and ocean heating. The domoic acid produced has caused fishery shutdowns , bird and marine mammal dieoffs . The Blob in 2014 ,and the heat produced, magnified the severity of damage produced by pseudo nitzschia blooms.
 I have a theory that disease should be an expected result of stress caused by , acidification, hypoxia and ocean heatwaves. We saw shellfish dieoffs of abalone, urchins, starfish, and other invertebrates in ocean heatwaves associated with the 1981-82 and 1997-98 El Niño’s and the 2014-2016 ocean heatwave here in the Calif. Current Ecosystem. Stress as a driver and disease as the kill mechanism.

https://c-can.info/c-can-oar-18-september-2019/

vox_mundi

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #68 on: September 16, 2019, 05:43:41 PM »
^
Bruce: That seems like a reasonable hypothesis.

The kill-chain appears to be a mosaic - acidification, hypoxia, heatwave, starvation & disease. The ecosystem is resilient against individual variables but it can't withstand simultaneous insults like that.

Things are also washing up on the other coast.

----------------

Summer of Blob: Maine Sees More Big, Stinging Jellyfish
https://phys.org/news/2019-09-summer-blob-maine-big-jellyfish.html

The Gulf of Maine and some of its beaches, ever popular with tourists, have recorded a high number of sightings of a big jellyfish that has the ability to sting swimmers and occasionally does.

The lion's mane jellyfish, the largest known variety, can grow to five or more feet across, with tentacles more than 100 feet long.

Such giant jellyfish are uncommon, but beachgoers say larger than average ones have been exceptionally plentiful this year in the gulf, which touches Maine, two other states and two Canadian provinces.

... Jellyfish are tracked each summer by Nick Record, a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine. Typically fewer than half the jellyfish reported are lion's manes. This year, almost all of several hundred jellyfish observed were the lion's mane variety.

If there are more large lion's mane jellyfish, Record said one possible reason is that the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than most of the world's oceans, and the jellyfish can grow faster in warmer water.
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Niall Dollard

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #69 on: November 26, 2021, 09:34:41 AM »
Not particularly happy with the sort of "triumphalist" tone of the author, but anyhow reading through this implies the W Hudson Polar Bears are doing well this year, despite the slow freeze up this autumn.

https://polarbearscience.com/2021/10/15/no-signs-of-a-climate-emergency-for-w-hudson-bay-polar-bears-this-year-ahead-of-un-climate-meeting/

Sebastian Jones

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #70 on: November 27, 2021, 03:16:11 PM »
Not particularly happy with the sort of "triumphalist" tone of the author, but anyhow reading through this implies the W Hudson Polar Bears are doing well this year, despite the slow freeze up this autumn.

https://polarbearscience.com/2021/10/15/no-signs-of-a-climate-emergency-for-w-hudson-bay-polar-bears-this-year-ahead-of-un-climate-meeting/

The 'triumphalist tone' is a feature of climate change denials blogs, and this site, despite its name is no exception.
The author of the site is a notorious climate effects denier and a regular contributor to the Global Warming Policy Foundation.
Now, having said this, there are nuggets of truth in her mish-mash of bullshit. It does appear that W. Hudson polar bears are OK this fall, but the close to record late freeze there is definitely biting into their fat reserves.
For a partial listing of the author's denials credentials see here: https://www.desmog.com/susan-crockford/

Niall Dollard

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #71 on: November 27, 2021, 08:06:18 PM »
Thanks Sebastian for the background check.

I was thinking as much as that.

Freegrass

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #72 on: March 17, 2022, 01:57:14 PM »
Bad news for the guys from Deadliest Catch...

Crab crash: Effects of collapsed Bering Sea crab stocks are being felt far beyond the fleet

https://www.alaskajournal.com/2022-03-09/crab-crash-effects-collapsed-bering-sea-crab-stocks-are-being-felt-far-beyond-fleet

The crash in Bering Sea crab stocks is translating to serious impacts for fishermen and communities across the Western Alaska coast.

A long-term decline in Bristol Bay red king crab abundance paired with an unforeseen plummet in snow crab stocks led to significant cuts in the available Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands crab harvest for 2022.

From the top, the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery is closed entirely this season for the first time since the 1990s, while the Bering Sea snow crab total allowable catch was reduced by nearly 90 percent. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council and National Marine Fisheries Service are working on a stock rebuilding plan for the snow crab, but that could take years.

In the meantime, fishermen who depend on crab are dealing with the fallout of those cuts this year. When the crabbing season began in January — red king crab fishing traditionally starts in October — boat captains had to decide whether it was worth making the trip out into the Bering Sea for such less quota than they were used to.

Gabriel Prout of Kodiak was waiting out a storm in the Akutan harbor last week, after finishing up his snow crab season. The F/V Silver Spray, the vessel he owns with his father and brothers, was only able to go out for 100,000 pounds of snow crab. Of that, they only caught about 75,000 pounds because the fishing was so slow; they traded the rest of the quota for bairdi and headed south.

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Tough ice conditions also made the fishing difficult, Prout said. For the first time in many years the ice reached the northern side of St. Paul Island, and it covered up many of the spots where crab had recently been known to congregate. But even in the open spots, according to Prout, fishing was very slow.

“(We caught) 200 to 300 crab per pot on average last year,” he said. “Going back to kind of the same area this year and looking around several miles in each direction, I have to say it was fairly poor and spotty. We didn’t even have a pot of 200 crabs. I think our high pot was 180 — right around 100 keepers a pot. Not too exciting out there. Some boats went farther up north there toward the beginning in mid-January, but like we mentioned, the ice kind of covered up some of the more desirable spots.”

The Silver Spray went out to its normal fishing grounds, but not every vessel did. Prout said some of the others chose to stay behind in harbor, to save the fuel and crew pay in a year with such low quota. Others are choosing to diversify and trade quota where they can and looking for other opportunities. After finishing the crabbing season, he said the Silver Spray will be crossing the Gulf of Alaska to tender for the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery.

“There’s definitely boats that are looking for more opportunity this year,” Prout said. “When you have your snow crab quota reduced by 90 percent ... that’s a big, big hit to these vessels out there. There’s definitely boats kind of scrambling, looking for opportunity.”

St. Paul Fishing Co. has a combination of both. The company, a subsidiary of the CDQ group Central Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association, owns three crabbing vessels and quota in the Bering Sea crab fishery. Over time, the company — based on the small island in the central Bering Sea, with a year-round population of about 470 people — has bought up more of the crab quotas in the region, making itself economically dependent on the fate of the crab fishery.

Jeff Kauffman, CEO of St. Paul Fishing Co., said the company sent two boats out to fish snow crab this year. The quota cuts translated to one load from one boat and two loads from another. That was it.

“(The crews’) incomes were slashed very, very significantly,” he said. “We put one boat up for sale, and that put six guys out of work, which is incredibly unfortunate because those guys have worked for us for some time now.”

The company invested heavily in crab back in 2015, when it bought out Icicle Seafoods’ quota. Crab is now the most important economic resource to St. Paul. While halibut are the cash fishery and provide both food and personal income to the island, it’s crab that brings in the major money to the island. The CDQ group does hold some quota for pollock and for black cod, but not on the scale that it does with crab. Pollock saw about a 19 percent cut this year, which hurt as well, Kauffman said. The processing plant is a major employer, and the tax revenue from the landings help pay for the infrastructure and government in the community.

When the cuts were announced, leaders of St. Paul Fishing Co. and CBSFA met to discuss emergency budget cutting, working with the tribe and the community, Kauffman said. It was challenging, but the organization managed to keep its budget balanced this year, but the boats and the crews are paying for it, he said.

“One boat last year did 1.8 million pounds last year, only did 200,000 pounds this year,” he said. “Boats are expensive, insurance rates continue to climb ... everything is seemingly getting more expensive, and all of a sudden, we have a lot less revenue to make that happen.”

No one knows when or if the crab stocks will rebound, or even the reason for the decline. Researchers have said they’re reasonably certain something happened that caused a mortality event, but not entirely sure what. Until they do rebound, the fishermen and communities will have to plan around the scarcity of crab.

The loss of revenue to the local government is a major cost to the decline in the fishery as well. During the Council’s September 2021 meeting, when the crab TAC cuts were first being discussed, Unalaska Mayor Vincent Tutiakoff Sr. wrote that the City of Unalaska would lose not only the fisheries landing taxes from the Bristol Bay red king crab and snow crab fisheries, but also lost taxes on fuel sales and lost wharfage revenue. At that time, when they were estimating only a 50 percent cut in snow crab, it meant $1.7 million less for the city with an operating budget of nearly $30 million.

St. Paul’s residents often fish halibut for cash and subsistence, but without crab, the island’s government and services will decline, according to Kauffman. He noted that if the fishery closes entirely or the quota becomes too small, the processing plant may not open, which would reduce economic activity on the island. The tourism sector on the island also depends on the plant, which is where the tourists who come to see birds and seals are fed and sometimes housed.

“It’s hard to imagine a day in the Bering Sea where there’s no crab fishery, and when the crab plant is completely dark,” Kauffman said. “It’s absolutely terrifying for the residents of St. Paul. This is who we’ve become and who we are and how we exist. Halibut is the most important to the people, but crab is the most important to the community.”

The Bering Sea Crabbers Association and a number of the stakeholders are working on a request for fisheries disaster relief. However, even that wouldn’t likely bring immediate help, as federal disaster declaration and relief funding can take years to arrive. Prout said streamlining that relief is one thing that would help the fishermen significantly, and they hope to see relief to help with expenses like boat payments and lost income.

He and his brothers are younger and bought into half of the fishing business with their father, who has been fishing for decades on the Bering Sea. Despite the downturn, they still have hope that the fishery will improve enough to support them in the future and provide opportunity.

“There’s still a lot of opportunity here,” Prout said. “Leading up to 2021, the snow crab quotas were looking really, really healthy. In 2019, they were seeing the biggest recruitment ever, not really sure where that went. Obviously, king crab has been on the decline for a little while. Really, it’s diversifying, going into the fishery to supplement your income, buying into those shares to boost your income a little bit. You want to get the next generation involved in this, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
90% of the world is religious, but somehow "love thy neighbour" became "fuck thy neighbours", if they don't agree with your point of view.

WTF happened?

be cause

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #73 on: March 17, 2022, 09:42:19 PM »
Orcas kill all the sea otters which then don't kill sea urchins which then multiply and graze the sea floor to a desert . Crabs are among the collateral damage .
Conflict is the root of all evil , for being blind it does not see whom it attacks . Yet it always attacks the Son Of God , and the Son of God is you .

vox_mundi

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #74 on: June 21, 2023, 05:37:42 PM »
Orca Rams Into Yacht Off Shetland In First Such Incident In Northern Waters
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/21/orca-rams-yacht-off-shetland-first-such-incident-northern-waters

Cetacean exhibits same behaviour towards vessel in North Sea that has been seen in Iberian orca population

An orca repeatedly rammed a yacht in the North Sea off Shetland on Monday, in a concerning development following previous interactions between the cetaceans and vessels in the strait of Gibraltar and Portugal.

Dr Wim Rutten, a 72-year-old retired Dutch physicist and experienced yachtsperson, was sailing solo from Lerwick to Bergen in Norway. He was fishing for mackerel, with a single line off the back of the boat, when the orca suddenly appeared in the clear water, and hit the stern of the seven-ton boat.

“I said: ‘Shit!’” Rutten, who said he had heard about the “Portuguese accidents”, told the Guardian. The whale hit again and again, creating “soft shocks” through the aluminium hull.

“What I felt [was] most frightening was the very loud breathing of the animal,” he said. The orca stayed behind the boat “looking for the keel. Then he disappeared ... but came back at fast speed, twice or thrice ... and circled a bit.

“Maybe he just wanted to play. Or look me in the eyes. Or to get rid of the fishing line.”

This is the same behaviour that has been seen in the Iberian orca population, but it is the first time it has been known to happen in northern waters.

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Orcas Have Sunk 3 Boats In Europe and Appear to be Teaching Others to Do the Same.
https://www.livescience.com/animals/orcas/orcas-have-sunk-3-boats-in-europe-and-appear-to-be-teaching-others-to-do-the-same-but-why

... Scientists think a traumatized orca initiated the assault on boats after a "critical moment of agony" and that the behavior is spreading among the population through social learning.

Three orcas (Orcinus orca), also known as killer whales, struck the yacht on the night of May 4 in the Strait of Gibraltar, off the coast of Spain, and pierced the rudder. "There were two smaller and one larger orca," skipper Werner Schaufelberger told the German publication Yacht. "The little ones shook the rudder at the back while the big one repeatedly backed up and rammed the ship with full force from the side."

Schaufelberger said he saw the smaller orcas imitate the larger one. "The two little orcas observed the bigger one's technique and, with a slight run-up, they too slammed into the boat." Spanish coast guards rescued the crew and towed the boat to Barbate, but it sank at the port entrance.

Two days earlier, a pod of six orcas assailed another sailboat navigating the strait. Greg Blackburn, who was aboard the vessel, looked on as a mother orca appeared to teach her calf how to charge into the rudder. "It was definitely some form of education, teaching going on," Blackburn told 9news.

Reports of aggressive encounters with orcas off the Iberian coast began in May 2020 and are becoming more frequent, according to a study published June 2022 in the journal Marine Mammal Science. Assaults seem to be mainly directed at sailing boats and follow a clear pattern, with orcas approaching from the stern to strike the rudder, then losing interest once they have successfully stopped the boat.

https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12947

As the number of incidents grows, there is increased concern both for sailors and for the Iberian orca subpopulation, which is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List. The last census, in 2011, recorded just 39 Iberian orcas, according to the 2022 study. "If this situation continues or intensifies, it could become a real concern for the mariners' safety and a conservation issue for this endangered subpopulation of killer whales," the researchers wrote.

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« Last Edit: June 21, 2023, 08:56:56 PM by vox_mundi »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

kassy

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #75 on: June 21, 2023, 06:09:58 PM »
I read some articles about it and orca´s seem to pick up habits include strange fads. My favorite was them swimming around with dead fish on their head which just much be orca humor. The best boat theory was one orca being hit by a boat and then learning how to annoy them and then pass that on as such a fad.

If that theory is correct the orca might be one from there but we will probably never know.
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.

Alexander555

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Re: Effects on Arctic Wildlife
« Reply #76 on: June 21, 2023, 08:10:06 PM »
Maybe they learned from the covid-19 crisis, when everything was more quiet. That they are getting exterminated by humans. After a few months the wales and dolphines returned to the bays. Boats bring misery. And sailboats have the right size to attack.