Background Articles

The Southeast Alaska commercial red and blue king crab fishery will remain closed for the upcoming season due to low stock numbers, although some areas have shown signs of rebounding, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

About five beluga carcasses were left at the NARL Boat Dock on Aug. 8, causing smell and potential wildlife hazard in the area. The bones were cleaned the same day but the city reminded residents they can get help with cleanup after susbsitence hunting.

So far, 22 sea lions have been found, with signs of human interaction, including gunshot wounds.

The "whale pump hypothesis" claims nutrient-rich whale excrement feeds phytoplankton, a key producer of Earth's oxygen.

North Slope experts think Indigenous experts should take the lead on wildlife management. When it comes to belugas, caribou and ice seals, managing agencies and researchers are often in charge of setting hunting regulations and analyzing the animals.

The current outbreaks of avian influenza (also called “bird flu”) have caused devastation in animal populations, including poultry, wild birds, and some mammals, and harmed farmers’ livelihoods and the food trade. Although largely affecting animals, these outbreaks pose ongoing risks to humans.

Beluga whales in Cook Inlet have been in a long period of decline, about two percent a year. But a new population count points to a reversal. The latest numbers have led researchers to declare the population stable for the first time in decades.

A federal appeals panel issued a last-second ruling Wednesday that will allow this summer’s Southeast Alaska troll chinook salmon fishery to open as scheduled July 1.

Ireland’s major contribution to the study of whales comes from an accidental stranding off the coast of Wexford.

The whaling industry and whale experts believe Norway must promote whale meat. The Minister of Fisheries fears that this could ruin the sale of other Norwegian seafood.

On the north slope, the whale brings together and sustains life for everyone. "We have a bond with the animals. They fed us, they clothed us, they sheltered us since time immemorial. Without them, we wouldn't survive the Arctic."

At the world’s northernmost year-round research station, scientists are racing to understand how the fastest-warming place on Earth is changing — and what those changes may mean for the planet’s future.

Scientists are studying the diets of the oceans’ top predators as they change in response to their environments. This is because how much and what they eat can affect how ecosystems function.

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has allowed for 1,500 grey seals to be hunted in the Baltic Sea and 630 harbour seals on the west coast.

Large, high-fat copepods — distantly related to shrimp and crab — are dwindling and loosing fat with the lack of sea ice from global warming.

Only certain Alaska Native people can hunt sea otters. But as otter populations have grown, so have calls to loosen federal laws protecting them.

With ice declining, bowhead whales of the Pacific Arctic choose to stay longer in the waters up north. A change in migration patterns could affect the bowheads' health and safety, as well as the hunters' access to the subsistence resource.

A new variant of bird flu has recently infected both sea lions and mink. Health authorities around the world are now monitoring that it does not begin to infect humans.

Russian and American scientists have been cut off from collaborating for a year, and Arctic research is suffering.

A new report predicts there will be almost no narwhal left in an area off the northeastern coast of Baffin Island this summer and says shipping traffic from the nearby Mary River iron ore mine is to blame. The mine's operator says it leaves out key information.