Barrow Canyon is a submarine canyon that straddles the boundary between the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. [1] Compared to other nearby areas and the Canada Basin, the highly productive Barrow Canyon supports a diversity of marine animals and invertebrates.
Starting roughly 95 miles west of Barrow, Alaska, Barrow Canyon stretches 150 miles along the coast, crossing into the Beaufort Sea north of Point Barrow. The canyon is roughly 15 miles wide, and reaches depths up to 1,200 feet below the surrounding cliffs and peaks.
Due to the region’s high primary productivity and high biomass of zooplankton [2] and benthic invertebrates, [3] Barrow Canyon is an important foraging area and concentrated migration passageway for marine mammals and birds following openings in the sea ice. Bowhead and beluga whales travel through the canyon during the spring and fall migrations. [4] The corridor is likely used by many bird species migrating to the North Slope for summer breeding. [5]
Several species of birds, including yellow-billed loons, spectacled eiders, king eiders, Arctic terns, black-legged kittiwakes, glaucous and Sabine's gulls, long-tailed ducks, and red phalaropes, rely on areas near the shoreline along the canyon for foraging. [5] [6] [7]
Many species of marine mammals are found in Barrow Canyon throughout the year. As offshore sea ice melts, Pacific walrus rely on coastal habitat for haulouts and on the region’s rich seafloor for foraging. [8] Beluga whales, polar bears, bowhead whales, and several species of seals, including spotted seals, bearded seals, and ringed seals, also rely on this region as an important feeding area. [9] [10] [11] Gray whales cluster at the mouth of Barrow Canyon where there are large concentrations of zooplankton. [12]
Local villages rely extensively on areas influenced by the high levels of productivity at Barrow Canyon during the year. [13] [14] The Inupiaq whaling captains have long known about the migration route for bowhead whales and have helped scientists document important places. [15]
A 2010 study identified Barrow Canyon as a key to resilience in the Arctic marine ecosystem. [16] Due to the unique factors that contribute to the high levels of primary productivity in the region, the canyon will likely provide ecosystem resilience to climate change into the future. [17]
The entire Chukchi Coast, including parts of Barrow Canyon, has been designated as Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) for saffron cod and Arctic cod by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Both Arctic cod and saffron cod are critical species to the Arctic marine food web. [18] Additionally, snow crab have been found in the area and while there is no existing fishery for them in the Arctic, they are a commercially important species in the Bering Sea. [18] [19]
On January 27, 2015, President Obama—using his authorities under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act—withdrew the Beaufort Sea Barrow whaling area from all future oil and gas leasing activity. Additionally, an additional subsistence area north of Barrow in the Chukchi Sea was deferred from leasing in the 2012–2017 Final Program. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement also recognizes additional portions of the Barrow Canyon region as Environmentally Important Areas. [20]
Whaling is the hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16th century, it had become the principal industry in the Basque coastal regions of Spain and France. The whaling industry spread throughout the world and became very profitable in terms of trade and resources. Some regions of the world's oceans, along the animals' migration routes, had a particularly dense whale population and became targets for large concentrations of whaling ships, and the industry continued to grow well into the 20th century. The depletion of some whale species to near extinction led to the banning of whaling in many countries by 1969 and to an international cessation of whaling as an industry in the late 1980s.
The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and the Americas. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves. The Bering Sea is named after Vitus Bering, a Danish navigator in Russian service, who, in 1728, was the first European to systematically explore it, sailing from the Pacific Ocean northward to the Arctic Ocean.
The beluga whale is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus Delphinapterus. It is also known as the white whale, as it is the only cetacean to regularly occur with this colour; the sea canary, due to its high-pitched calls; and the melonhead, though that more commonly refers to the melon-headed whale, which is an oceanic dolphin.
The Beaufort Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Alaska, and west of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The sea is named after Sir Francis Beaufort, a hydrographer. The Mackenzie River, the longest in Canada, empties into the Canadian part of the Beaufort Sea west of Tuktoyaktuk, which is one of the few permanent settlements on the sea's shores.
The Chukchi Sea, sometimes referred to as the Chuuk Sea, Chukotsk Sea or the Sea of Chukotsk, is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west by the Long Strait, off Wrangel Island, and in the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, beyond which lies the Beaufort Sea. The Bering Strait forms its southernmost limit and connects it to the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The principal port on the Chukchi Sea is Uelen in Russia. The International Date Line crosses the Chukchi Sea from northwest to southeast. It is displaced eastwards to avoid Wrangel Island as well as the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug on the Russian mainland.
Aboriginal whaling or indigenous whaling is the hunting of whales by indigenous peoples recognised by either IWC or the hunting is considered as part of indigenous activity by the country. It is permitted under international regulation, but in some countries remains a contentious issue. It is usually considered part of the subsistence economy. In some places, whaling has been superseded by whale watching instead. This article deals with communities that continue to hunt; details about communities that have ended the practice may be found in History of whaling.
Point Barrow or Nuvuk is a headland on the Arctic coast in the U.S. state of Alaska, 9 miles (14 km) northeast of Utqiagvik. It is the northernmost point of all the territory of the United States, at 71°23′20″N156°28′45″W, 1,122 nautical miles south of the North Pole.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) was the first act of the United States Congress to call specifically for an ecosystem approach to wildlife management.
Prince Leopold Island is an island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is located in Lancaster Sound at the junction of Prince Regent Inlet and Barrow Strait. Somerset Island is situated 13 km (8.1 mi) to the southwest; Port Leopold, an abandoned trading post, is the closest landmark. The island is significant as a summer habitat and breeding ground for large populations of several arctic bird species.
The Chukchi Shelf or Chukchi Sea Shelf is the westernmost part of the continental shelf of the United States and the easternmost part of the continental shelf of Russia. In the west it merges with the Russian Siberian Shelf. Within this shelf, the 50-mile Chukchi Corridor acts as a passageway for one of the largest marine mammal migrations in the world.
The bowhead whale is a species of baleen whale belonging to the family Balaenidae and is the only living representative of the genus Balaena. It is the only baleen whale endemic to the Arctic and subarctic waters, and is named after its characteristic massive triangular skull, which it uses to break through Arctic ice. Other common names of the species included the Greenland right whale, Arctic whale, steeple-top, and polar whale.
Hanna Shoal is a shallow, natural shoal located off the coast of northwest Alaska in the Chukchi Sea. The region around Hanna Shoal is one of the Chukchi Sea’s most biologically productive areas.
Harrison Bay is an estuary located north of Alaska that opens into the Beaufort Sea. It is adjacent to the Colville Delta. The powerful outflow of the Colville River creates a shallow region that is rich with nutrients, making it ecologically significant for wildlife.
Colville Delta is a river delta in northern Alaska that flows into Harrison Bay. The delta is so flat that it has been said that it is indiscernible where the river ends and the ocean begins. The powerful outflow of the Colville River creates a shallow region that is rich with nutrients, making it ecologically significant for wildlife.
Smith Bay is an estuary in the Beaufort Sea that supports a wide range of fish, birds, and marine mammals. It is located northeast of Point Barrow, Alaska. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management recognizes the southeastern portion of Barrow Canyon, which covers some, but not all, of Smith Bay, as an Environmentally Important Area.
Herald Shoal is a region of high benthic productivity on the Chukchi Sea shelf. It serves as rich foraging habitat for many species of marine mammals and birds.
The Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area, encompassing 291,000 square kilometers, is a protected area within the Bering Sea, established by President Obama on December 9, 2016, by Executive Order 13754. It represents a hugely productive, high-latitude marine ecosystem and supports one of the largest seasonal marine mammal migrations in the world, including thousands of bowhead and beluga whales, hundreds of thousands of walruses and ice seals, and millions of migratory birds. Moreover, it is home to more than 40 tribes of coastal Yup’ik and Inupiaq peoples whose way of life has been linked with the marine environment for thousands of years.
Early on in his campaign for election, former president Barack Obama made it clear that climate change was a priority for his administration. Soon after becoming President Elect in November 2008, he reiterated this positing stating: “Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all. Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response.” Contradictory to his 2008 campaign promises on the Offshore drilling debate, Obama felt obliged to open coastal areas off the Alaskan coast to exploratory assessments for oil and gas as a means to continue to stimulate economic growth. This decision in March 2010 was abruptly reversed in May 2010 after the catastrophic failure of the Deep Water Horizon drilling operation, which led to the six-month moratorium on deep water drilling in the United States territorial waters.
Whaling in Canada encompasses both aboriginal and commercial whaling, and has existed on all three Canadian oceans, Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic. The indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast have whaling traditions dating back millennia, and the hunting of cetaceans continues by Inuit. By the late 20th century, watching whales was a more profitable enterprise than hunting them.
Sue E. Moore is a scientist at the University of Washington known for her research on marine mammals in the Arctic.
