The bear necessities

Updated on: Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Andrew Derocher is back after a six-week stay in the Canadian Arctic. Though he doesn’t have an accurate estimate, he had made somewhere between 50 and 80 field trips to the Arctic to work on polar bears. Derocher started studying polar bears in 1984. A professor of biological sciences at the University of Alberta, Canada, he has been using polar bears as a means of understanding Arctic ecosystems. Much of his work is applied to conservation and management of polar bears.

This time, Derocher and his team were working from Tuktoyaktuk, capturing polar bears. They fitted 25 GPS satellite collars on the bears. The focus was to identify movement patterns and preferred habitats of the bears. "This information will be used in management plans relative to proposed offshore oil and gas exploration. We will also be comparing recent movement patterns to those observed in the 1980s-1990s. Our research is helicopter-based and we capture the bears by firing a drug filled dart from the helicopter."

Derocher has research ongoing in three different areas of the Canadian Arctic — Western Hudson Bay, Southern Beaufort Sea, and Foxe Basin — all of which are showing effects of climate change. He says, "We follow the bears by satellite telemetry. We have GPS collars so we know exactly where the bears are six times per-day. We can examine the sea ice conditions in the habitats the bears are using. Part of our research is to monitor the change over time — for example, the time on and off the sea-ice in Hudson Bay. If the ice breaks up very early (in July) the bears are forced ashore, which can have a negative impact on the bears. If freeze-up is delayed, we see more bears coming into the nearby community of Churchill, Manitoba."

This spring was interesting for Derocher and his team. Compared to the last two years, there was more sea-ice and it looked superficially more like it did 25 years ago when Derocher first went there. The big difference was that the ice was not as thick as it used to be. The Arctic is on track to be very close to the lowest level of sea ice seen (2007 was the minimum). "We found a fair number of bears although many were not in very good body condition. We didn’t see many seal kills and I suspect that the bears were having a hard time catching seals," he adds.

In order to ensure a balanced ecology, conservation, and management of large Arctic mammals, especially polar bears, Derocher observes that the main concern is to control human emitted greenhouse gas. What we need is, he says, a commitment to dealing with climate change, and development of some technology that can help humans shift to a sustainable means of living.

There are 19 populations of polar bears in the world and over-harvest (hunting) is a problem in about four populations. However, over-harvest is relatively easy to control and management actions are underway. But pollution is a concern and it is clear that being at the top of the food chain puts polar bears in a dangerous position.

Derocher’s ongoing research areas include grizzly bears, wolves, caribou, mountain sheep, and peregrine falcons. "All of my research projects are in the Arctic," he says.

As to the kind of impact that his work is likely to have in the future, Derocher says that if polar bears continue to exist and are studied by future generations then he foresees his research having utility in documenting existing patterns in polar bear ecology. However, he adds, "If climate change unfolds, then the future for polar bear research becomes less clear." However, he is optimistic that humans can live in balance with the planet, but as he says, it will take a dedicated effort.

Times of india

The bear necessities

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