November 10, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
In the Arctic, each year before daylight disappears and winter arrives, thousands of bowhead whales make their fall migration across the Beaufort Sea off northern Alaska. The timing of the migration is something Alaska Indigenous communities and scientists can count on. However, 2019 was not a normal year.
What Happened in 2019?
The year 2019 was unusual in several ways. It was Alaska’s hottest year on record. Sea surface temperatures were significantly warmer than average. There also were salmon die-offs across the state as river temperatures, in some areas, hit 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
The timing of the bowhead whale migration was also different. By late October, the largely subsistence-based community of Utqiaġvik, Alaska, had seen few whales. Never in recent memory had whales come so late. NOAA researchers observed that both the edge of the sea ice and the bowhead whales were farther north than in previous years of surveying the area in Bureau of Ocean Energy Management-funded aerial studies.
“Whales are a vital part of our communities. Bowheads help us to feed our communities and are central to many of our cultural traditions. Hunting whales has been our way of life for thousands of years,” said North Slope Borough Mayor Harry K. Brower, Jr.