Polar bears are the largest bears in the world and the Arctic’s top predator. Polar bear’s latin name, Ursus maritimus, means sea bear; it’s the perfect name for this animal, which spends most of its life in, around, or on the ocean-predominantly on sea ice. Polar bears are considered talented swimmers. They have a thick layer of body fat and a water-repellent coat insulating them from the cold air and waters. They rely heavily on sea ice for traveling, resting, mating, and hunting, spending over 50% of their time on ice. However, due to its reliance on the ice, climate change has directly impacted and led to the rapid decline in polar bear populations. Polar bears are now a vulnerable species.
The loss of sea ice habitat from climate change is the biggest threat to the survival of polar bears. However, other concerns for polar bears include: toxic pollution in the environment, direct impacts from industrial development, and even overhunting of some subpopulations. Due to climate change the Arctic is heating up twice as fast, shrinking up the Arctic sea’s ice cover by 14% per decade. Studies have found that compared to the median sea ice cover recorded between 1981-2010, we have lost about 770,000 square miles, an area larger than Alaska and California combined. “For every week that the ice breaks up in Hudson Bay, bears come ashore roughly 22 pounds lighter and in poorer conditions,” stated the World Wildlife Organization. These polar bears suffer from fewer opportunities to feed, habitat fragmentation, leading to fewer cubs.
As Arctic ice melts, it opens up new opportunities for industrial development on larger parcels of land; that would cause polar bears to be affected with the increased shipping activities as there is a rise for oil and gas developments. Most of these developments would then dump the oils into the bodies of water or cause accidental oil spills.
As humans we can help alleviate the environmental impacts on Polar bears by expanding the implementation of e-navigation and technology, adopting modern sea traffic management measures, establishing an area to be avoided surrounding the diomede islands, developing region-specific industry practices to minimize adverse impacts and risks, and strengthening domestic and bilateral emergency prevention and response capabilities. Additionally, we can reduce, reuse, recycle, drive less, use less hot water to help stop global warming. Lastly, we can help support nonprofit organizations and their conservation efforts to help increase our Polar Bear population.
