A Wales resident shot and killed the bear. With the loss of sea ice and the ocean staying open later in the year, polar bears have been spending more time on land, which increases the chance of human encounters.
December should have sea ice development in Norton Sound. But no sign of ice yet this year. Several storms have moved northward across the western Bering Sea and brought strong winds and bouts of above freezing weather to the Teller area and all of the Bering Strait region.
Two more Russian LNG tankers made history earlier this month passing through the North Sea Route, which extends along the northern coast of Russian Asia, in late January, the latest commercial ship
Last week, a 908-foot Russian tanker carrying liquified natural gas passed south through the Russian side of the Bering Strait, with two more to follow. The ships are traversing the northern coast of Siberia, called the North Sea Route, in the middle of January with no icebreaker escort, an unprecedented event that may hint at the future of the region as climate change alters global commerce.
Wales lost shorefast ice early in the season. Ice along the shore has been crushed and broken. This is a very unusual event for Wales as many of our hunters rely on great ice conditions for whale and other sea mammal catch for food.
Last week, social media across Western Alaska lit up as residents posted photos and videos of open water where, normally, there's ice.
No sea ice; hunters say it should not be like this today.
By this time of the year, we usually have 2-3 miles of shore-fast ice that sticks to our beach. We as a village have not done our winter harvest of seals and walrus, and we are worried that we will not be able to bowhead whale hunt.
The sea is our garden for food and other things.
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