The article describes a Utqiagvik family's significant milestone in catching the first bowhead whale of the spring season, amidst challenges posed by climate change affecting sea ice stability.
The highly pathogenic influenza that just claimed its first known polar bear victim continues to circulate in the world’s wild populations.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game records show two other unusually wayward moose hunts: One in 2016 taken north of Teshekpuk Lake along the Arctic coast, and another in 2014 on the Kokolik River near Point Lay.
It's been a challenging year for whalers in Utqiagvik. Crews started going out in September, but found the bowheads weren't appearing in their usual concentrations in the waters closer to shore. On the water Nov. 16 Panigiuq Crew landed the first whale of the season for Utqiagvik, later than many people can remember ever bringing one in before.
Aerial surveys this September and October show the bowheads aren’t where they usually are.
“I think it was a little more stable, and there was a little bit more assurance that the ice you were on was not going to disintegrate on you that easy,” said whaling captain Gordon Brower.
With relatively calm summer weather, an Utqiagvik crew landed at least 11 beluga whales this season, Wainwright was lucky to caught 50, and Kotzebue Sound saw the second-highest harvest in more than a decade, according to local hunters.
This early in spring, the season usually only starts, but the weather patterns have been changing, and so has been the harvest time, Donovan said.
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