The Northern Climate Observer

The Northern
Climate Observer

Waves of Trash In 1986, I was a student aboard the RV Westward, a research vessel on a six-week journey through the Sargasso Sea. I remember coming up on deck one morning and seeing a line of full trash bags floating on the ocean surface. They were stretched out every twenty yards or so, for as far as the eye could see. I was completely dumbstruck! The first mate, seeing my expression said, "Some trail huh. Left by the ship that passed last night." I will never forget that. The idea that someone would throw hundreds of bags of trash into the ocean. Who does that? One study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looked at the labels and date stamps on plastic bottles that washed up on the beach. They found that at least on one South Atlantic island, most of the plastic trash came from merchant marine vessels in international waters. Ocean dumping is a global problem, and the number of ships traveling to the Arctic (see Marine Traffic Map) is increasing. Alaska coasts have long had problems with fishing industry trash. But dumping by merchant and other ship traffic is new because of sea ice change and emerging shipping routes. This week, we are featuring an observation from Sharon Nayokpuk, the Tribal Environmental Manager for Shishmaref, Alaska, and a long-time member of LEO Network. On October 6, she observed an assortment of trash washing ashore on local beaches. The US Coast Guard has cited increased shipping through the Bering Strait as a likely cause, apparently by people who have little regard for keeping Arctic waters clean. We know what will happen if strict measures are not taken. By sharing these observations, we hope to encourage policy makers and the shipping industry to find ways to stop the dumping of trash into Arctic seas. Mike Brubaker, Editor

	Foreign Trash Washing Up on Beaches Shishmaref, Alaska, United States Sharon Nayokpuk / LEO Network / October 6, 2020 "We have been finding plastic bottles, glass bottles, couple life vests, and boots." The Bering Sea has noted an abundance of foreign debris washing up on our shores. Communities like Unalakleet, Gambell, Savoonga and Nome have all reported and documented hoards of this debris. Read post on the LEO Network
	Ten polar bears - six adults and four cubs - besiege a stalled rubbish truck in Russian Arctic Siberian Times / October 20, 2020 Fellow driver tries to scare the predators away as they climb inside the truck to reach food scraps. All predators look healthy and well fed, however the author of the video suggests that it could have been hunger that made them surround the truck. Read article on Siberian Times
	Polar Bears’ Plastic Diets Are a Growing Problem Churchill, Manitoba, Canada Gloria Dickie / Hakai Magazine / April 5, 2019 Dumps are often chock-full of plastic and, as a new survey shows, polar bears are ingesting a lot of it. In an analysis of the stomach contents of 51 polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea, researchers led by Raphaela Stimmelmayr, a wildlife veterinarian with Alaska’s North Slope Borough Department of Wildlife Management, found that 25 percent of the bears had plastic in their stomachs. Read article on Hakai Magazine
	Police kill brown bear believed responsible for vehicle damage Haines, Alaska, United States Chilkat Valley News / Chilkat Valley News / October 22, 2020 Two brown bears were killed in Haines last week, bringing the total killed outside hunting season in management unit 1D this year to 26. Bear calls to police have increased by about 600% compared to past years. Read article on Chilkat Valley News
	Mother of all jökulhlaups reported in Southeast Alaska Matt Miller / Alaska Public Media / October 26, 2020 Scientists believe a massive glacial dam release - or jökulhlaup - recently occurred in Southeast Alaska. But they probably would not have known about it if they had not been tipped off by an observant commercial fisherman. Read article on Alaska Public Media
	Heavy rains in Southeast Alaska block key roads on Prince of Wales Island Klawock, Alaska, United States Eric Stone / Alaska Public Media / October 27, 2020 Heavy rains toppled trees and buried roads on Prince of Wales Island Monday. Local and state transportation crews are responding to at least seven landslides blocking roads on the Southeast Alaska island. Read article on Alaska Public Media

The Northern Climate Observer is published by the Center for Climate and Health. We track news coverage from across the circumpolar north and provide readers with a curated roundup of climate change related events. Thank you for reading our newsletter and for paying attention to our changing world.

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Northern Climate Observer

The Northern Climate Observer is published weekly by the Center for Climate and Health. We track news from across the circumpolar north and provide readers with a curated roundup of climate change related events.

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Northern Climate Observer

The Northern
Climate Observer