Although the weather is harsh in the winter, with gale-force winds, 20-foot seas, and shifting sea ice, the marine waters surrounding Alaska provide unspoiled habitat for millions of migratory birds and thousands of marine mammals, including polar bears, ice seals, endangered bowhead whales, and Pacific walrus.
The Bering Sea is an ecological hotspot of global importance. At its center, the narrow 53-mile-wide Bering Strait is the only waterway connecting the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Major currents and sea ice fuel extremely high plankton and sea floor productivity, which attracts more than 10 million nesting seabirds such as Least and Parakeet auklets, as well as the global population of wintering Spectacled Eiders. Little Diomede, King Island, and the St. Lawrence Island sea ice polynya (an area of recurring open water) are all designated Important Bird Areas.
Off Alaska’s northern coast, the Chukchi and the Beaufort seas are rich marine environments that support many migratory shorebirds, seabirds, and marine mammals. Bird species from the Alaska WatchList that rely on this area include Yellow-billed and Red-throated loons, Brant, and Common, Spectacled, and King eiders. There are ten globally significant Important Bird Areas along the adjoining coast and offshore. Marine mammals that ply these waters include polar bears, bearded, ringed, and spotted seals, Pacific walrus, and bowhead, gray, and beluga whales.
With growing vessel traffic in Arctic marine waters, the chances of oil spills in these rich ecosystems are real and concerning. Oil spills in Arctic marine waters would cause devastating and long-lasting socio-ecological impacts, including contamination of food and water, erosion of community integrity and identity, and substantial impairment to subsistence due to animal loss or changes in migration routes and behavior.
As part of ̽»¨¾«Ñ¡â€™s effort to protect the Arctic marine ecosystems, we have engaged in intensive efforts with conservation partners to identify and map the most important ecological and subsistence use areas in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas and highlight the need to protect them. Those findings, based on the best available science, are compiled in our Ecological Atlas of the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas.
Alaska’s seas are becoming increasingly busy highways for vessels, posing growing risks for seabirds during one of their most vulnerable times—fall migration.
Natural soundscapes are vital ecological resources—what happens when they are drowned out?
A birding trail was born out of a festival to further celebrate birds, community, bird tourism, and conservation in Arctic Alaska.
