SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The Center for Biological Diversity filed a scientific petition Thursday with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the Pacific walrus under the federal Endangered Species Act due to threats from global warming and growing oil and gas development throughout its range.

"The Arctic is in crisis from global warming. Arctic sea ice is disappearing at a stunning rate that vastly exceeds the predictions of the best climate models," said Shaye Wolf, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity and lead author of the petition. "The Pacific walrus is an early victim of our failure to address global warming. As the sea ice recedes, so does the future of the Pacific walrus."

The Pacific walrus is a well-known resident of the Arctic seas between Alaska and Siberia whose existence is intimately linked with the sea ice. The walrus, whose scientific name means "tooth walking sea horse," uses the sea ice as a platform from which to forage for clams and mussels. A walrus can consume as many as 6,000 clams in a single foraging session. Female walruses and calves follow the sea ice year-round and rely on the safety of ice floes for nursing and as essential resting platforms between foraging bouts, since they cannot swim continuously. All Pacific walrus are dependent on sea ice for their breeding activities in winter.

However, this sea ice is rapidly shrinking and forcing the Pacific walrus into a land-based existence for which it is not adapted. In 2007, the early disappearance of summer sea ice pushed females and calves onto land in abnormally dense herds. As a result, females and young were forced to abandon large regions of their at-sea feeding grounds, and calves suffered high mortality on land due to trampling by the dense herds. Walrus calves, unable to swim as long as adults, have also been abandoned by their mothers at sea, which has been attributed to the disappearance of the sea ice on which they would normally rest.

The impacts of global warming on the walrus will undoubtedly worsen in this century. Scientists expect that the Arctic will be ice-free in the summer as early as 2012. The walrus's winter sea-ice habitat is projected to decline 40 percent by mid-century if current greenhouse gas emissions continue; any remaining winter sea ice will be much thinner and will not last as long. Warming sea temperatures and ice loss also appear to be decreasing the abundance of the walrus's bottom-dwelling prey. Habitat loss of this magnitude will undoubtedly commit Pacific walrus to population declines and an increased risk of extinction.

At the same time the sea-ice habitat of the walrus is melting away, its most important foraging grounds are being auctioned off to oil companies. The Chukchi Lease Sale 193, held on February 6, 2008, resulted in 2.7 million acres of important Pacific walrus being bid on by oil companies, opening the door to oil and gas development in much of the Pacific walrus's summer range.

"With rapid action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, combined with a moratorium on new oil and gas development and shipping routes in the Arctic, we can still save the Pacific walrus, the polar bear, and the arctic ecosystem," added Wolf. "But the window of opportunity to act is closing rapidly."

Oil and gas development, shipping, and greenhouse gas emissions affecting the Arctic would be subject to greater regulation under the Endangered Species Act if the walrus is listed. Listing of the Pacific walrus would not affect subsistence harvest of the species by Alaska Natives, exempted from the law's prohibitions.

Contact Info:

Shaye Wolf
Tel : 415-436-9682 x 301
Cell : 415-385-5746

Website : the Center for Biological Diversity