Hundreds of polar bears in northeastern Manitoba may face an
increased risk of starvation due to delayed ice formation along the
western coast of Hudson Bay, conservationists say.
Higher-than-normal temperatures have prevented ice from forming in
the region, putting it three to four weeks behind schedule, according to
the Canadian Ice Service, a division of Environment Canada. As a
result, minimum ice cover there is the lowest since 1971, Canadian Ice
Service forecaster Luc Desjardins said.
Formation of sea ice is critical for polar bears, which use it as a platform for catching seals and other marine mammals.
While a recent aerial survey of 333 polar bears along the bay's
western coast showed the bears to be in good condition, conservationists
worry the animals' health will deteriorate quickly if ice does not form
in the next few weeks.
"The conditions that are occurring are indicative of the ice coverage
that we would see probably in the mid-October time frame, rather than
the mid-November," Desjardins told CBC News last month.
Normally by late November, a thin layer of ice up to 15 miles long
would have formed, stretching seaward from the bay's western and
southern coastlines, he said.
"The ice is almost non-existent this year, compared to our long-term normal," Desjardins said.
Where there is ice, "it's very patchy in terms of formation and it's
not a distinct pattern that affects the entire length of the coast of
Hudson Bay."
Desjardins stressed that the amount of ice has fluctuated in recent
years and 2010 levels are not "significantly different" from those of
the last five or six years.
What is different, however, is temperature: the region's air temperature is “consistently warmer" than in recent years, he said.
In Nunavut's Foxe Basin, the temperature is 14 degrees above normal.
Winter is the polar bear's feasting season. From November
until early summer, they fatten themselves on ringed seals, bearded
seals and other mammals. In the summer, during what's called a "walking
hibernation," the average polar bear loses 1.6 kilograms of weight per
day.
Ideally, the slow, heavy predators have enough weight by the end of
the summer to make it back onto the ice platforms and hunt anew for
fatty mammals.
"The longer that ice is in forming, the longer the polar bears have
to survive on the fat reserves they put down in the spring and conserved
right through the summer," said Peter Ewin, an Arctic specialist for
the World Wildlife Fund.
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