Future Arctic: Field Notes From a World on the Edge by Edward Struzik

Author:Edward Struzik [Struzik, Edward]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: nature, General, Environmental Conservation & Protection, Ecosystems & Habitats, Polar Regions, political science, Public Policy, Environmental Policy, Travel
ISBN: 9781610914406
Google: IP_gBQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Island Press
Published: 2015-02-03T23:41:19.771520+00:00

Figure 6.2 Instead of shooting problem bears in Churchill, wildlife officers place the animals in a holding cell for two or three weeks or until the ice has formed on Hudson Bay. Photo credit: Edward Struzik

The added work has been a strain on resources. In 2011, labor costs were four times what they were in 2000, while operating costs doubled in the same period.

“The one thing that we’ve learned from the past is that there is always going to be a new challenge protecting both people and polar bears in Churchill,” says Roberts. “So we have to continue to come up with new ways of dealing with these emerging situations. It’s not going to be easy, especially if climate change does what everyone seems to think it’s going to do.”

Derocher doubts that many of the smaller Inuit communities in the Arctic can afford the resources that the town of Churchill has available to it. He says, though, that one important lesson to come out of the Churchill experience is that all interested parties need to be consulted.

“Polar bears are of extremely high priority for northern communities, but that doesn’t negate the fact that they are viewed as a species of global significance by people that live far from polar bear habitat,” says Derocher. “The sooner we consider the options, the sooner we’ll have a plan. The worst-case scenario is a catastrophically early breakup with hundreds of starving bears followed by inappropriate management actions.

“It has always seemed that we’ve been behind the curve on the climate change and polar bear file,” he adds. “I think this stems from the three-generation perspective on conservation planning—thirty-six to forty-five years for polar bears. That time frame leads one to think you’ve got time. But the science is clear that this is a fallacy.”

This fallacy of short-term thinking is being driven home by the changes that have taken place in western Hudson Bay over the past decade. Ten years ago, wildlife managers like Daryll Hedman scoffed at reports of grizzly bears moving into the area. The last time anyone had seen a grizzly in Manitoba was in 1923, and the bear that was shot in that case was nowhere near the coast. This thinking began to change in 2008, however, when Hedman himself saw one near Churchill. The list of grizzly bear sightings that followed included one in which Pierce Roberts and his boss saw a grizzly eating a polar bear it had killed.

Killer whales have also moved into the kingdom of the polar bear in western Hudson Bay. Scientist Steve Ferguson was just as skeptical as Hedman was when the Inuit and local tour operators in Churchill first started reporting the presence of orcas several years ago. Those doubts, however, turned to genuine fascination as the number of confirmed sightings in western Hudson Bay and in other parts of the Arctic topped the one hundred mark. Ferguson now believes that it’s possible that the killer whale could replace the polar bear as the top predator in the marine food chain in western Hudson Bay, if not in the entire Arctic.

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