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Wave Goodbye To The Walrus ...; No Sea Ice, No Walruses
Topic Started: Dec 24 2007, 06:13 AM (965 Views)
QuirtEvans
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
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Joel Garlich-Miller, a walrus expert for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage . . . said 3,000 to 4,000 mostly young walruses died this year in stampedes on land on the Russian side of the Chukchi Sea, the body of water touching Alaska and Russia just north of the Bering Strait. Instead of spending the summer spread over sea ice, thousands of walruses were stranded on land in unprecedented numbers for up to three months.

Anatoly Kochnev, who conducts walrus research for Russia's Pacific Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, said this year's loss of 3,000 to 4,000 animals, most of them from the same population, could be disastrous.

If current ice trends continue, and walruses have to stay on coastlines every summer, they may put too much pressure on nearby foraging areas instead of feeding in the waters offshore, said U.S. Geological Survey biologist Tony Fischbach.

Experts on summer sea ice say it's not likely to suddenly reappear. Arctic sea ice this summer plummeted to its lowest levels since satellite measurements began in 1979, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado.

"Certainly we look like we're on a death spiral right now," said Mark Serreze, senior research scientist. "Losing that summer sea ice ... by 2030, within some of our lifetimes, is a reasonable expectation."


http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/12/24...s.ap/index.html
It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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Larry
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Mmmmmmm, pie!
First they told us the polar bears were in danger. Then we found out that not only are they *not* in danger, there's 5 times as many of them now as there were a hundred years ago and their numbers are increasing. Now they find a group of walruses who can't find the rest of the herd, so we'll be hearing about that until someone points out where the rest of the walruses are....

Maybe they're in Kansas. I hear it's cold as heck there....
Of the Pokatwat Tribe

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LWpianistin
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HOLY CARP!!!
Larry
Dec 24 2007, 12:28 PM


Maybe they're in Kansas. I hear it's cold as heck there....

:lol:
And how are you today?
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
Larry
Dec 24 2007, 12:28 PM
First they told us the polar bears were in danger. Then we found out that not only are they *not* in danger, there's 5 times as many of them now as there were a hundred years ago and their numbers are increasing. Now they find a group of walruses who can't find the rest of the herd, so we'll be hearing about that until someone points out where the rest of the walruses are....

Maybe they're in Kansas. I hear it's cold as heck there....

And if you can't find evidence suggesting that the vanishing walruses are not dead but simply not properly accounted for, it just means that you haven't tried hard enough -- so Google harder!
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
I'll keep my comments brief about this: "goo goo g'joob"
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
Maybe take a look at the Walrus hunting industry web-sites. I'm sure they'll be able to set our minds at rest.

As far as polar bears go - Polar bear website

Quote:
 
Polar Bear Status Report
Polar bears are a potentially endangered species living in the circumpolar north. They are animals which know no boundaries. They pad across the ice from Russia to Alaska, from Canada to Greenland and onto Norway's Svalbard archipelago. No adequate census exists on which to base a worldwide population estimate, but biologists use a working figure of 20,000 to 25,000 bears with about sixty percent of those living in Canada.

In areas where long-term studies are available, populations are showing signs of stress due to shrinking sea ice. Canada's Western Hudson Bay population has dropped 22% since the early 1980s. The declines have been directly linked to an earlier ice break-up on Hudson Bay. A long-term study of the Southern Beaufort Sea population, which spans the northern coast of Alaska and western Canada, has revealed a decline in cub survival rates and in the weight and skull size of adult males. Such declines were observed in Western Hudson Bay bears prior to the population drop there. Another population listed as declining is Baffin Bay. According to the most recent report from the Polar Bear Specialist Group, the harvest levels from Nunavut when combined with those from Greenland (which were thought to be much lower than they actually are) has resulted in this shared population being in a non-sustainable harvest situation, meaning the population is at great risk of a serious decline. The harvest is thought to be several times above what is sustainable.

The IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group reclassified the polar bear as a vulnerable species on the IUCN's Red List of Endangered Species at their most recent meeting (Seattle, 2005). They reported that of the 19 subpopulations of polar bears, five are declining, five are stable, two are increasing, and seven have insufficient data on which to base a decision. In the U.S., the U.S. Fish and Wildlife has proposed that the polar bear be listed as a Threatened Species under the Endangered Species Act. The agency will make a final decision in January 2008. Canada and Russia list the polar bear as a "species of concern."

Some Native communities in Canada have been reporting increasing numbers of polar bears on land. Traditional hunters believe this indicates an increased population, although the increased presence on land may, in fact, be related to shrinking sea ice and changes in the bears' distribution patterns. Data is needed to understand the change. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service states, "In the declining polar bear population of Canada's Western Hudson Bay, extensive scientific studies have indicated that the increased observation of bears on land is a result of changing distribution patterns and a result of changes in the accessibility of sea ice habitat."

Climate change is the main threat to polar bears today. A diminishing ice pack directly affects polar bears, as sea ice is the platform from which they hunt seals. Although the Arctic has experienced warm periods before, the present shrinking of the Arctic's sea ice is rapid and unprecedented.

In the 1960s and 1970s, hunting was the major threat to the bears. At the time, polar bears were under such severe survival pressure from hunters that a landmark international accord was reached, despite the tensions and suspicions of the Cold War. The International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears was signed in Oslo, November 15, 1973 by the five nations with polar bear populations: Canada, Denmark (Greenland, Norway, the U.S., and the former U.S.S.R.

The polar bear nations agreed to prohibit random, unregulated sport hunting of polar bears and to outlaw hunting the bears from aircraft and icebreakers as had been common practice. The agreement also obliged each nation to protect polar bear denning areas and migration patterns and to conduct research relating to the conservation and management of polar bears. Finally, the nations agreed to share their polar bear research findings with each other. Member scientists of the Polar Bear Specialist Group now meet every three to four years under the auspices of the IUCN World Conservation Union to coordinate their research on polar bears throughout the Arctic.

The Oslo agreement was one of the first and most successful international conservation measures enacted in the 20th century. Its legacy continues today, with member scientists from each nation continuing to work together in face new threats to the bears including climate change, pollution, industrial activities, and poaching.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Larry
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Mmmmmmm, pie!
Apparently you didn't read that article a week or so ago that pointed out that in 1900 there were only about 5,000 of them....
Of the Pokatwat Tribe

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Larry
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Mmmmmmm, pie!
Interesting.

It seems that this is a normal cycle that has happened before......

Arctic Warming from 1918-1939

And it also seems that what's going on is a pissed of group of enviro-whackos are yelling the sky is falling once again because they didn't get what they wanted. In other words - more politics.

Of the Pokatwat Tribe

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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
ivorythumper
Dec 24 2007, 08:50 AM
I'll keep my comments brief about this: "goo goo g'joob"

You are so not the walrus.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
Somehow, "I am the penguin," leaves a little to be desired... :tongue: :sombrero:
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
I am the dodo
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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George K
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Finally
John D'Oh
Dec 24 2007, 12:34 PM
I am the dodo

No, you are the D'Oh, D'Oh.
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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The 89th Key
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I learned something new today...a group of walruses (walri?) are known as herds or pods.

Also...I thought this was as appropriate a thread as ever to show these pictures:

THE ORIGINALS:

Posted Image

THE RESULTS:

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image
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The 89th Key
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Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

Dozens more here: http://hamsterinthewheel.com/fatalfury/wal...ry070927-143838
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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
:lol2: :lol2: :lol2:
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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George K
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Finally
Welp, this thread went into the crapper pretty fast, I'd say.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
You might even say that it kicked the bucket.... :sombrero:
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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Phlebas
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Bull-Carp
The 89th Key
Dec 24 2007, 09:53 AM
[ img]www.icanhavebucketburger.com/walrusstealingbuckit.jpg[/img]


I agree.
Random FML: Today, I was fired by my boss in front of my coworkers. It would have been nice if I could have left the building before they started celebrating. FML

The founding of the bulk of the world's nation states post 1914 is based on self-defined nationalisms. The bulk of those national movements involve territory that was ethnically mixed. The foundation of many of those nation states involved population movements in the aftermath. When the only one that is repeatedly held up as unjust and unjustifiable is the Zionist project, the term anti-semitism may very well be appropriate. - P*D


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Mark
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HOLY CARP!!!
Isaac! :lol2:

:wave: <- Bye Walrus!
___.___
(_]===*
o 0
When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
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QuirtEvans
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
Larry
Dec 24 2007, 11:28 AM
First they told us the polar bears were in danger. Then we found out that not only are they *not* in danger, there's 5 times as many of them now as there were a hundred years ago and their numbers are increasing.

What's that smell? I know I've smelled it somewhere before.

Oh yeah, it's a huge pile of bullcrap!
It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
QuirtEvans
Dec 24 2007, 06:13 AM
Quote:
 
Experts on summer sea ice say it's not likely to suddenly reappear. Arctic sea ice this summer plummeted to its lowest levels since satellite measurements began in 1979, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado.

"Certainly we look like we're on a death spiral right now," said Mark Serreze, senior research scientist. "Losing that summer sea ice ... by 2030, within some of our lifetimes, is a reasonable expectation."


http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/12/24...s.ap/index.html

This is what sounds like bullcrap to me.
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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QuirtEvans
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
What's bullcrap? Their measurements? Surely instrument measurements are what they are. Unless you have some reason to believe that they are not reporting them honestly.

So, what's bullcrap? The extrapolation of what is happening now, over the next 23 years?
It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
QuirtEvans
Dec 24 2007, 05:08 PM
What's bullcrap?  Their measurements?  Surely instrument measurements are what they are.  Unless you have some reason to believe that they are not reporting them honestly.

So, what's bullcrap?  The extrapolation of what is happening now, over the next 23 years?

I'll know that the fact of man-made global warming is finally accepted by the nay-sayers on the day when our conservative brethren start blaming it on liberalism, or possibly lesbian feminists.

Trust me on this, that day will come.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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JBryan
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I am the grey one
We have actually been able to observe the polar ice cap by satellite for all of less than 30 years and now we can extrapolate out to the next 23? Color me skeptical.
"Any man who would make an X rated movie should be forced to take his daughter to see it". - John Wayne


There is a line we cross when we go from "I will believe it when I see it" to "I will see it when I believe it".


Henry II: I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody.

Eleanor: At my age there's not much traffic anymore.

From The Lion in Winter.
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QuirtEvans
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
John D'Oh
Dec 24 2007, 05:31 PM
QuirtEvans
Dec 24 2007, 05:08 PM
What's bullcrap?  Their measurements?  Surely instrument measurements are what they are.  Unless you have some reason to believe that they are not reporting them honestly.

So, what's bullcrap?  The extrapolation of what is happening now, over the next 23 years?

I'll know that the fact of man-made global warming is finally accepted by the nay-sayers on the day when our conservative brethren start blaming it on liberalism, or possibly lesbian feminists.

Trust me on this, that day will come.

NostraD'Ohmus has spoken.
It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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