Yearly Archives: 2014

Polar bear listed as a migratory species by UNEP to restrict oil exploration & extraction

Posted on November 9, 2014 | Comments Off

In a press release this afternoon, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) announced it had added polar bears to their list of Appendix II migratory species. [CMS is a pseudo-arm of the UN Environment Programme, the UNEP¹]

“The Polar Bear, the largest apex predator on Earth is affected by climate change that has led to the loss of 2 million m2 of sea ice. The Appendix II listing introduces the global perspective of existing threats to Arctic species stemming from shipping and oil exploration, making it a case for all CMS Parties.“

But why formally list the polar bear as a migratory species when it is protected under several other national and international programs?

UPDATED 10 November 2014, see additions below
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Posted in Conservation Status, Sea ice habitat

Tagged Arctic oil, BBC, climate change, CMS, global warming, migratory species, oil exploration, oil money, polar bear, Red list, sea ice habitat, UNEP

BBC provides a forum for desperate biologists: “Will polar bears become extinct?”

Posted on November 7, 2014 | Comments Off

Yesterday, the BBC published a story that gave the two most alarmist polar bear researchers on the planet a forum to market their ‘polar bears are doomed’ message. This time the desperation shows: watch how these biologists move the goal-posts, make claims so misleading they border on lies, and pretend they don’t have big, big trouble with their predictive models.

Amstrup_only solution_with 2 cubs_Oct 8 2014

Amstrup photo that accompanied an interview last month.

Comments Off on BBC provides a forum for desperate biologists: “Will polar bears become extinct?”

Posted in Advocacy, Conservation Status, Population, Sea ice habitat

Tagged Amstrup, average global temperature, Bayesian models, BBC, climate change, Derocher, extinct, future climate, future population decline, global warming, polar bear, sea ice declines, sea ice models

Polar bear specialist says there are 800 polar bears in W Hudson Bay, gov’t says ~1,000-1,500

Posted on November 5, 2014 | Comments Off

Activist polar bear biologist Andrew Derocher (University of Alberta) may have gone too far this time. In an interview with Yahoo News, Derocher is quoted as saying:

“When I first started here about 30 years ago the population was about 1,200 bears and now we’re down to about 800,” team member Andrew Derocher, a biology professor at the University of Alberta, said in a phone interview from the tundra outside Churchill.” [my bold]

Figure 4. Environment Canada's "Map 3: 2014 Canadian Polar Bear Subpopulation and Status Map," original here.

Environment Canada’s “Map 3: 2014 Canadian Polar Bear Subpopulation and Status Map,” original here. Click to enlarge.

However, the Polar Bear Technical Committee of Environment Canada says differently: it estimates there are ~1000-1,500 bears in Western Hudson Bay (WH) and that the population is probably stable, as their new status map (dated June 2014, copied above) shows. A recent (2014) peer-reviewed paper by Stapleton and colleagues (discussed here) provides the data for that estimate.
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Posted in Advocacy, Conservation Status, Population

Tagged conservation status, Derocher, Environment Canada, Hudson Bay freeze-up, polar bear, Polar Bear Technical Committee, population estimate, western hudson bay, WWF

Polar bear habitat update: what a difference a year makes to sea ice coverage in Canada!

Posted on November 4, 2014 | Comments Off

There is far more ice — and far more concentrated ice — in Canada this year than on this day last year. That’s good news for most polar bear populations.

[And, it turns out, more ice total this year on this date than there has been since 2001!]

I’ve made a composite 2014/2013 ice map for 4 November that tells the story (courtesy daily Canadian Ice Service sea ice maps).
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Posted in Sea ice habitat

Tagged Amundsen Gulf, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Canadian Ice Service, Coronation Gulf, Foxe Basin, good news, habitat, ice maps, polar bear, Queen Maud Gulf, sea ice, sea ice concentration, Southern Route

Polar bear biologists doing mark-recapture work in Hudson Bay may have misled the world

Posted on November 2, 2014 | Comments Off

What exactly are Western Hudson Bay (WHB) polar bear researchers hiding? Since 2004, research on the body condition and cub production of Western Hudson Bay (WHB) polar bears has been carried out but none of the results of these mark-recapture studies have been made public.

The researchers all claim that WHB polar bears are struggling to survive because of recent sea ice changes but won’t release the 10 years worth of updated information they possess on the bears or the sea ice.

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Posted in Advocacy, Conservation Status, Population, Sea ice habitat

Tagged Amstrup, body condition, climate change, cub mortality, Derocher, global warming, invasive research, litter size, Lunn, mark-recapture, misinformation, photo ops, polar bear, polar bear survival, polar bear week, Polar Bears International, population estimate, propaganda, vital rates, western hudson bay

Polar bear habitat update – Sea ice starting to form on Hudson Bay

Posted on October 31, 2014 | Comments Off

Is that ice I see forming along the shore of Hudson Bay, just in time for Hallowe’en? Not enough to resume hunting but a sign that freeze-up can’t be too far off. See the ice map below and this photo posted at PolarBearAlley confirming the presence of slushy ice on the shore near Churchill.

[Map above from Canadian Ice Service updated daily, click to enlarge]

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Posted in Sea ice habitat

Tagged Canadian Ice Service, Foxe Basin, freeze-up, Hallowe'en, Hudson Bay, ice maps, sea ice extent, slushy ice, western hudson bay

W Hudson Bay polar bear population no longer “declining” – where are the headlines?

Posted on October 29, 2014 | Comments Off

Why are the #saveourseaice folks at Polar Bears International, who have being working in Western Hudson Bay for decades, not dancing in the streets of Churchill? Environment Canada’s Polar Bear Technical Committee upgraded the status of Western Hudson Bay polar bears from “declining” to “likely stable” four months ago (details here). Why has this fabulous news not made major headlines around the world?

Figure 1. Environment Canada’s “Map 3: 2014 Canadian Polar Bear Subpopulation and Status Map,” original here. Western Hudson Bay is “WH.”

After years of being told by polar bear specialists and activists organizations like Polar Bears International and the World Wildlife Fund that the Western Hudson Bay (WHB) population is already suffering mightily because of global warming, it now appears that is far from the truth.

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Posted in Advocacy, Conservation Status

Tagged #saveourseaice, activists, Amstrup, Assiniboine Park Zoo, Churchill, declining population, declining sea ice, Environment Canada, misinformation, polar bear, Polar Bears International, politics of polar bears, status, western hudson bay, WHB, WWF

Status of Canadian polar bear populations has been changed – more good news

Posted on October 28, 2014 | Comments Off

According to maps dated June 2014, Environment Canada (EC) has changed the trend status of several Canadian subpopulations — without any announcement or publicly-available documents explaining the basis of the changes.

Figure 3. "Series of Circumpolar Polar Bear Subpopulation and Status Trend Maps 2010, 2013 & 2014" Note the asterisk below the 2014 map, which is dated "June 2014" and is different in its status assessment from the one released in February 2013 by the PBSG. Original here.

Figure 1. Environment Canada’s “Map 4: Series of Circumpolar Polar Bear Subpopulation and Status Trend Maps 2010, 2013 & 2014.” Original here.

And would it surprise you to learn that virtually all of these status changes reveal more good news about polar bears?
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Posted in Conservation Status, Population

Tagged Canada, conservation status, Davis Strait, Environment Canada, good news, IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group, Nick Lunn, PBSG, polar bear, Polar Bear Technical Committee, population estimate, Southern Beaufort, trends, western hudson bay

Beaufort Sea polar bear subpopulation boundary has been changed

Posted on October 27, 2014 | Comments Off

Environment Canada recently posted a set of maps on its website that show it has moved the boundary between the polar bear subpopulation it shares with the USA — without a word to the media or a note anywhere.

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Posted in Population

Tagged Alaska, boundary change, Environment Canada, Northern Beaufort, Northwest Territories, polar bears, population estimate, Southern Beaufort, subpopulations, Tuktoyaktuk

Walrus mass haulout hype refuted, the video

Posted on October 23, 2014 | Comments Off

Produced by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, there is now a short video summary of my recently-released GWPF briefing paper, which I wrote and narrated.