POLAR BEARS AND SEA ICE LOSS. Questions and Answers. Version 5 (9/15/08)

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1 POLAR BEARS AND SEA ICE LOSS Questions and Answers Version 5 (9/15/08) Q. Is it common to see polar bears in open water? A. Polar bears are strong swimmers and it is not uncommon to see them in the water near ice or shore. However, over the past few summers, the Arctic sea ice has melted to record low levels, forcing polar bears to swim much greater distances through open water in search of solid ice or dry land. Finding multiple bears in open water miles from shore or sea ice is very uncommon. Between 1987 and 2003, for instance, a total of only 12 bears were found in open water. In recent weeks many bears were seen in open water off the coast of Alaska: nine during an aerial survey on August 16; five during a survey on August 28. It is not possible to routinely survey the open seas for polar bears, so the number of bears in open water this year is likely much higher. Q. With nearly 25,000 polar bears in the Arctic, and 3 populations actually increasing, why should we care about a few swimming out at sea? A. The bears we are finding in the water are one example of the devastating impact of climate change on the Arctic. These stronger arctic impacts were predicted by scientists and are backed up by the observations of local people. The reason the bears are in open water is because there is significantly less sea ice. The remaining sea ice is much thinner than in years past, and can suddenly break up. There is less sea ice because temperatures in the Arctic are rising sharply. Temperatures are increasing because we ve emitted so much global warming pollution green house gasses from cars and coal power plants for example into the atmosphere, creating a blanket of heat trapping gases around our planet. Because of the changes taking place in the Arctic, the federal government recently listed polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act citing the risk of the species eventually going extinct due to the melting of its sea ice habitat. Q. Why is the Arctic sea ice melting? A. Climate change is having an impact on every corner of our planet. As scientists have predicted, the most dramatic effects of climate change are happening first in the Arctic. The Arctic is warming at a much more rapid rate than the rest of the Earth. In 2007 the summer thawing of arctic sea ice broke all records and advanced dramatically further than predicted, leaving the dark ocean water to absorb even more heat. Even sea ice scientists were shocked by the decline, and now believe that summer sea ice could be gone completely by sometime between 2013 and Q. How did initial reports surface of polar bears in open water?

2 A. Contractors flying a survey mission for the Minerals Management Service and NOAA s National Marine Mammal Lab spotted nine polar bears in the Chukchi Sea on August 16. Their mission was to search for bowhead whales, a protected species, in an effort to declare the Chukchi cleared for oil development. The identification of the nine bears was an incidental occurrence. WWF learned of the bear sightings on August 21 and issued an alert to the media that day. Following this event, WWF in collaboration with researchers from the University of Alaska, USGS, and with support of the US Coast Guard flew a follow up survey and sighted 5 bears in open water. Q. Can bears survive a long distance swim in open water? A. Long swims through open water are possible, but in some circumstances, this can be physically taxing for polar bears. Some bears swim vast distances over a hundred miles to reach stable ground or the main pack ice. When these bears reach shore, they are often so physically taxed that they sleep for days on end even when attempts are made to move them away from a village or industrial area. Open water swims can become more dangerous for bears if a storm arises. We know of several instances, sadly, in which bears have drowned during open water swims. Q. Why is sea ice so important to polar bears? A. Polar bears live, hunt, breed, and raise their cubs on Arctic sea ice. The bears main source of food, ringed and bearded seals, live in shallow Arctic water. In recent years, the summer sea ice has retreated much farther north where the water is deeper and the productivity believed to be much lower. It is also not known if ringed and bearded seals will stay with the retreating ice as it moves over deep Arctic basin waters. Those bears that swim to shore also find a scarcity of food. Scientists have recorded significantly smaller polar bears during recent years in western Hudson Bay, where the ice breaks up three weeks earlier than it did 20 years ago. Recent studies examining stable isotope signatures and fatty acids, to better understand polar bear diet, show negligible terrestrial inputs, which confirms the lack of significant land sourced foods. In two of the most studied polar bear populations, research has already shown a relationship between sea ice loss and declining population trends (Western Hudson Bay); and sea ice loss and declining population measures such as lowered cub survival and smaller adult stature (Southern Beaufort Sea). Sea ice is also a significant part of the entire arctic food web, from single celled creatures, all the way up to whales. As the ice disappears, the habitat of ice dependent life disappears, creating chaos in Arctic ecosystems. Q. Is it possible to save polar bears by building platforms to replace sea ice? A. Many people have suggested the construction of floating artificial platforms and we've conferred with leading polar bear biologists on this concept. Unfortunately, building artificial

3 platforms is not a viable solution. The sea ice is more than a simple platform. It is an integral part, literally the soil of the arctic ecosystem. It is inhabited by plankton and micro organisms, which support a rich food chain that nourishes cod which feed the seals, which in turn become prey for polar bears. Additionally, the Arctic Ocean is a vast, enormous space that experiences some of the most extreme weather on the planet. It would be impossible to replace the equally vast summer ice ecosystem with a viable artificial platform that could withstand the use of Arctic animals and the returning winter sea ice. Q. Can t polar bears adapt to a changing climate? A. The sea ice habitat of the polar bear is changing too rapidly for polar bears to evolve to a terrestrial life style. There is no scientific evidence indicating that polar bears can sufficiently adapt to a life without sea ice and the rich marine life that it supports. Polar bears are the largest of the existing bear species and they got that way from eating seals, not berries and fish. There is simply no suitable terrestrial source of calories to sustain a reasonable number of polar bears over time. One also has to remember that the Arctic tundra is already home to the Barren Ground Grizzly, one of the smallest brown bears. Their small stature is further proof of the limited prey base available on land and, although small in size, they are known to chase polar bears from carrion and would not welcome new neighbors. Q. Is it possible to rescue bears in open water? A. At this time, there are no practical options for retrieving bears from open water. Rescue operations using a floating mechanism, such as a raft, or an aircraft have been deemed too dangerous for the bears. Attempts to trap the animals while they are swimming could add significant physical stress to the bears and tranquilizing them while they are in the water could greatly increase the likelihood of them drowning. The resources required would be hugely expensive as well and such funding would be better used in conserving the population as a whole, not just a few individuals. As difficult as it is, there is simply little we can do once bears are in open water. The best option is to make sure some sea ice remains in the future, and to reduce other sources of stress to the bears, such as industrial activity in prime polar bear habitat. Q. What can be done to help polar bears? A. The most important step that can be taken to protect polar bears is sharply reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, which are responsible for the warming of the planet and the melting of the polar bears sea ice habitat. By placing a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and investing in clean, renewable, non polluting energy resources such as wind, geothermal, and solar we can continue to meet our nation s energy needs in a sustainable, responsible and affordable manner that will protect the future of our planet. While slowing climate change is imperative, we must also recognize that the sea ice will continue to melt over the near to mid term. So protecting what remains of the polar bears fragile habitat is of utmost importance. We must give polar bears the best chance of surviving a

4 rapidly warming Arctic by eliminating key immediate threats such as the industrialization of the Arctic, unsustainable harvest, and prey disruption. We must protect the Polar Bear seas from oil development, which would exacerbate the threat to the bears with the construction of drilling platforms in their habitat and which could completely destroy the fragile ecosystem in the event of a spill. There is no proven method for cleaning an oil spill in Arctic waters. We must also protect areas on land where polar bears are likely to concentrate as the ice disappears and where polar bears are likely to den. We need to ensure any harvest of bears is sustainable and eliminate any illegal or unnecessary take. Lastly we need to protect key marine and terrestrial areas to allow polar bears continued access to their primary prey. Q. Would oil development in Arctic waters exacerbate the threat to polar bears? A. Very much so. As the Arctic sea ice melts to record low levels, significant physical stress is being placed on polar bears. They have fewer options for hunting prey, many face dangerously long and exhausting swims through open water, and stable areas for rearing their cubs are becoming scarce. Allowing the installation of massive oil production facilities in Arctic waters would escalate the deterioration of the polar bears remaining fragile habitat. Furthermore, there is no proven technology to clean up an oil spill in the harsh, turbulent Arctic waters. A large oil spill could devastate the Arctic marine environment. The risk is simply not worth the reward. Q. What is WWF doing to protect polar bears? A. As the world s largest conservation organization, WWF works in all of the Arctic countries inhabited by polar bears. They are a WWF flagship species and we have participated in their conservation for 20 years. WWF s Arctic Program also houses our Polar Bear Conservation Coordinator who oversees our global strategies on this key species. Our efforts focus on educating the public, reducing threats to polar bears, their habitat, and their prey, and supporting field research,. We also push governments, corporations and individuals to aggressively reduce their carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, the main cause of warming in the Arctic. WWF has helped to introduce legislation in the U.S. Congress, the Polar Bear Seas Protection Act, which would slow offshore oil development in the Arctic until strong evidence was available showing that an oil spill could be contained and that the cumulative impacts of the development would not harm wildlife. We have also joined a lawsuit, led by local communities in Alaska, to overturn a recent decision by the federal government to rush through lease sales for oil development in the Chukchi Sea, where most polar bears in U.S. territory live. The expedited sale of the leases precludes a full review of the potential impact oil development could have on polar bears and the rest of the Arctic ecosystem, which is a violation of federal law. Q. What is WWF doing to mitigate human bear conflict? A. As the Arctic sea ice melts to record low levels, many more polar bears are swimming to shore, where food is scarce and they are unaccustomed to living (outside of Hudson Bay, the

5 majority of the worlds polar bears remain on the sea ice year round). WWF is working with local communities along the Arctic coast to mitigate the consequences of human bear interactions by supporting polar bear patrols and protecting terrestrial habitat. With less time on ice, some bears are spending more time on land and we need to help both bears and people find a way to live together. Q. What are the implications beyond the Arctic for the loss of Arctic sea ice and the plight of the polar bears? A. The Arctic is sometimes referred to as the planet s air conditioner because of its influence on climate outside the region. Scientists know that the decline in Arctic sea ice and warming in the Arctic will affect climate including precipitation outside the region. Arctic sea ice, ice sheets and glaciers, and seasonal snow cover on land reflect up to 90 percent of sunlight back to space. This is one important reason why the Arctic remains so cold, and the Earth has its overall current temperature. Reductions to the extent and duration of arctic snow and ice significantly increase the amount of sunlight absorbed by the Earth and provide substantial positive feedback to climate warming. Across the Arctic, snow duration, sea ice cover, and the extent of glaciated areas are currently undergoing rapid decline due to global warming. The temperature signal produced by a rapid sea ice loss reaches up to 1500km inland. This will significantly accelerate global warming by causing the release of methane and carbon dioxide from the vast amounts of carbon stored in arctic permafrost. An amount of carbon about two times that currently held in our atmosphere is stored in the top three meters of arctic soils. In a more general sense, the decline in Arctic sea ice and its impacts on polar bears provides a foreboding example of what awaits the rest of the planet as climate changes particularly if we fail to take action now to lower our emissions. Q. What can I as an individual person do to help polar bears? A. There are several things you can do, starting with personal action to reduce your carbon footprint. You can also write to your Member of Congress urging support for the Polar Bear Seas Protection Act. Get started by going online to worldwildlife.org s Conservation Action Network.