ANCHORAGE, Ak. — October 1, 2014 — Pacific walrus that can’t find sea ice for resting in Arctic waters are coming ashore in record numbers on a beach in northwest Alaska.
An estimated 35,000 walrus were photographed Saturday 5 miles north of Point Lay, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Point Lay is an Inupiat Eskimo village 300 miles southwest of Barrow and 700 miles northwest of Anchorage.
The enormous gathering was spotted during NOAA’s annual arctic marine mammal aerial survey conducted with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the agency that oversees offshore lease sales.
Andrea Medeiros, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said walrus were first spotted Sept. 13 and have been moving on and off shore. Observers last week saw about 50 carcasses on the beach from animals that may have been killed in a stampede.
The gathering of walrus on shore is a phenomenon that has accompanied the loss of summer sea ice.
Pacific walrus spend winters in the Bering Sea. Females give birth on sea ice and use it as a diving platform to reach shellfish on the shallow continental shelf.
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