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The Chukchi Sea, off the coast of northwest Alaska, is one of the most productive ocean ecosystems in the world. Its vast, shallow sea floor and seasonal ice cover provide nutrients and pristine habitat for a multitude of organisms, ranging from walruses to ice seals to whales to millions of seabirds to the top predator mammal, the polar bear.

But the Chukchi Sea is changing dramatically. The evidence of global climate change is evident here perhaps like no other place on earth. Sea temperatures are rising, shorelines are dramatically eroding, and summer sea ice is receding to historic lows. As sea ice retreats, there are substantial prospects for new industrial activities in the Chukchi, including commercial fishing, commercial shipping, and oil and gas extraction.

The Chukchi Sea is under extreme pressure from oil and gas development, and the Obama Administration is accepting public comments now through September 21, 2009, on an aggressive five-year leasing plan, proposed in the last days of the Bush Administration. Scroll down to read more about the magnificent wildlife of the Chukchi Sea, Audubon's position on balance in the Arctic, and how you can help protect the Chukchi Sea.

Mammals of the Chukchi

The Chukchi Sea is distinctly different from lower latitude seas and makes direct and important contributions to global ocean and climate systems. Ice in particular is a critical feature of the Chukchi. The ice edge produces a rich profusion of phytoplankton, which is the base of the food chain for all marine and coastal Arctic wildlife and people, especially with a lack of benthic predation by warmer water fish, such as salmon and pollock. The Chukchi's shallow and highly productive sea floor allows bottom-dwelling prey (crustacea, mollusks, etc.) to flourish, creating a buffet for wildlife specialized to feed off the ocean floor, such as walrus, seals, gray whales, and deep-diving sea birds. Many of these species also rely on ice edges for resting, denning, and/or calving.

Perhaps most famously, Chukchi Sea is home to roughly half of America's polar bears, approximately 2,000 animals, or one-tenth of the world's population. Polar bears are integrally tied to sea ice for hunting, resting, breeding, and denning. Yet as the summer sea ice has retreated dramatically over the past 15 years, especially off the coast of Alaska, polar bears are increasingly denning on coastal lands instead. The melting sea ice has also reduced the area available to polar bears for hunting seals, the bear's chief prey species, and is forcing bears to swim farther in search of food and denning sites. A September 2007 study from the United States Geological Survey forecasts a loss of two-thirds of the world's polar bears-and all of Alaska's polar bears-by 2050. Other studies have documented polar bear drownings, smaller body size, lower cub survival rates, and cannibalism due to sea ice retreating. Based on this evidence and other scientific work, the polar bear was declared "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2008.

The most common prey species of the polar bear is the ringed seal, one of the so-called "ice seals" of the Chukchi. Other ice seals include ribbon, bearded, and spotted seals. True to their nickname, these seals are ice dependent, relying on ice edges to hunt and give birth to and nurse pups. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) recently decided to study these ice seals for possible listing under the ESA. In 2009 NMFS found that the ribbon seal did not warrant listing under the ESA, and the assessment of other "ice seals" is continuing.

In addition to seals, most of the Pacific walrus population uses the Chukchi Sea during the summer months. Unlike seals, walruses cannot swim indefinitely and rely on ice floes extensively for resting and as platforms from which to feed on mollusks and other benthic invertebrates. During the summer of 2007, as the ice retreated beyond the continental shelf, unprecedented numbers of walruses "hauled out" on shore in Alaska and in Russia, and thousands of walruses were killed in stampedes as the animals crowded onto the shoreline in extraordinary numbers. Walruses have also suffered from population declines as feeding and nursing their young have grown increasingly difficult. The US Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating listing the walrus under the ESA.

The Chukchi is also important for whales. Endangered fin and humpback whales, and formerly endangered gray whales, feed in the Chukchi’s shallows, and up to 3,500 beluga whales use Kasegaluk Lagoon near Point Lay for feeding, calving, and molting. In addition, most of the western Arctic Ocean’s endangered bowhead whales, the most important subsistence and cultural resource of many Alaskan North Slope residents, migrate along the Chukchi coast.

Birds of the Chukchi

The bays, inlets, and river outlets lining the Chukchi also provide breeding, feeding, and staging areas for millions of shorebirds, seabirds, and waterfowl. At least 15 species on Audubon's Alaska WatchList use the Chukchi, including Spectacled Eiders, which are listed as threatened under the ESA, and Yellow-billed Loons, which have been found to warrant ESA listing (but are not a study priority). Yellow-billed Loons are among the species affected by a recent oil spill off the coast of South Korea.

There are small populations of Kittlitz’s Murrelets in the Chukchi Sea. Nests have been found inland in the DeLong Mountains and Lisburne Hills, and murrelets have been found up to 40-50 miles offshore, primarily in the Cape Lisburne area north of Point Hope. Kittlitz's Murrelets have undergone dramatic reductions in population in recent years and are currently under study by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for potential ESA listing.

Spectacled Eider © Laura L. Whitehouse, USFWS

Several globally and continentally significant Important Bird Areas (IBAs) are within the Chukchi, including 18 IBAs on the US side of the Chukchi Sea and six more on the Russian side. Included among these are marine feeding areas for Northern Fulmars and Short-tailed Shearwaters and nesting and feeding areas for huge colonies of Common Murres and Thick-billed Murres.

Ledyard Bay, an IBA just south of the new oil and gas leases, is a Critical Habitat Area for ESA-listed Spectacled Eiders. In fact, most of the female Spectacled Eiders that breed on the Arctic Coastal Plain molt in Ledyard Bay. About 33,000 Spectacled Eiders and 500,000 King Eiders feed on mollusks and other bottom food in the shallow waters of the Bay. From April into November, nearly all of the breeding King Eiders from the US and Canada, plus many Russian breeding King Eiders, migrate through, stage, and forage in the eastern Chukchi. King Eiders utilize the shallow open polynas of the Chukchi to dive for mollusks and other invertebrates in spring and early summer, prior to dispersing to breeding grounds in Canada and Russia and on Alaska’s North Slope.

Oil and Gas Leasing in the Arctic Ocean

Despite its spectacular wildlife, the Chukchi Sea is under intense pressure from prospective oil and gas development, especially as the sea ice melts. In February of 2008, in its first lease sale in nearly 20 years, nearly three million acres in the Chukchi Sea were sold for over $2.6 billion. The leased areas are roughly 50-60 miles from the northwest coast of Alaska. Audubon, in partnership with several Alaska Native and conservation groups, filed a lawsuit to block implementation of that lease sale and future exploratory activities. The suit charged that the Minerals Management Service (MMS) lacked the necessary data to assess resource values and impacts and had not properly followed the mandates of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Act (OCSLA), or the ESA. Plaintiffs have submitted briefs, and the new Administration has asked for additional time to assess the suit.

Adjacent to the Chukchi Sea to the east, the Beaufort Sea is under similar development pressure, though courts have recently intervened. Shell Oil had planned exploratory drilling in the Beaufort close to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but a 9th United States Circuit Court of Appeals halted those plans in November 2008. The court found that the MMS failed to take into account the potential impacts of drilling on the bowhead whale population and local subsistence use of the whales. As of May 2009, Shell had suspended its 2009 drilling plans, pending appeals of the ruling. Only one field in the near-shore outer continental shelf (OCS) of the Beaufort Sea, off the coast of Prudhoe Bay, is currently producing oil, though the State of Alaska has held several lease sales in the state-owned waters of the Beaufort Sea within three miles of shore.

There may be much more development to come in both the Chukchi Sea and the adjacent Beaufort Sea. The current OCS plan, which was adopted by the Bush Administration, called for 70 million acres of lease sales over five years in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas combined. Several organizations filed suit, including conservation groups and the Alaskan village of Point Hope, charging that the MMS had failed to follow several provisions of NEPA, OCSLA, and the ESA for the scheduled leases. The District of Columbia federal appeals court agreed in part, ruling in April 2009 that the MMS had failed to follow OCSLA in assessing the sensitivity of the lease area to oil spills. However, several other issues raised in the suit were deemed not "ripe" for determination. The court threw out the current five-year plan and sent it back to the Department of the Interior for correction.

In the meantime, the Obama Administration is still grappling with another plan that was proposed and drafted just days before the end of the Bush Administration. The new proposed plan calls for even more accelerated leasing in both the Chukchi and the Beaufort seas, totaling 128 million acres of lease sales in the Arctic Ocean. However, the new Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, announced his intention to review the proposed plan to ensure that all resources were properly evaluated, including renewable energy sources. Salazar extended the public comment period on the new plan until September 2009 and personally conducted four public hearings around the country, including in Alaska, to take comments from the public on the plan. As part of this review, it is expected that the Secretary will take into account the April 2009 court ruling on the current five-year leasing plan.

At present, all future lease sales in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas are on hold. At this point it is unclear how the April 2009 ruling on the current OCS plan will affect the existing lease sales that have already taken place. What is clear, however, is that the Obama Administration wants to hear public opinion on oil and gas leasing in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. It is imperative that conservationists add their voice to urge protection for our Arctic Ocean.

Balance in the Arctic: Audubon’s Position

Although Audubon has not opposed oil and gas leasing and development in many areas of the Arctic, there are several places where natural values are so important, and/or where so little is known of the dynamic environment, that further development should not be allowed. The Chukchi Sea is one of those special places.

Global climate change is a growing threat, and its effects in the Arctic are obvious and dramatic. In 2007 the summer polar ice pack lost more than 1.5 million square miles, 20 percent more than had ever been previously recorded—more than the states of Alaska, Texas, and California combined. Some scientists predict that the permanent Arctic Ocean sea ice may be gone by 2040.

With the disappearance of sea ice habitat, there has been a flurry of petitions and proposals to protect several of the Arctic's at-risk, ice-dependent marine mammals under the ESA. Given indications of population decline and stress, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the polar bear as threatened. Meanwhile, the National Marine Fisheries Service is considering listing ringed, bearded, spotted, and ribbon seals, and petitions have been filed to list the Pacific walrus.

Relatively little is known about the Chukchi Sea ecosystem and the unique wildlife that depends on it. The government’s environmental impact statements for the lease sale are largely based on outdated, incomplete, and inadequate research and analysis. Agency scientists overwhelming believe that more research is needed for monitoring and mitigating impacts. With the acknowledged lack of baseline information, monitoring impacts would be nearly impossible, and management of those impacts would be rendered meaningless.

The chances of an oil spill in these fragile waters are very real, and the technology for oil cleanup in remote, ice-choked waters does not exist. The MMS admits that there is currently no way to adequately respond to oil spills in solid and broken ice conditions and that oil development, particularly a large spill, could cause long-lasting and devastating sociocultural impacts, including cultural impacts, contamination of food and water, erosion of community integrity and identity, and substantial impairment to subsistence due to animal loss or changes in migration routes and behavior. Mitigation measures to prevent adverse impacts on the Arctic Ocean environment and wildlife have not been adequately or realistically described.

Subsistence Harvest of Bowhead Whale © USFWS

Audubon’s position is that leasing in the Chukchi Sea should not be permitted until:

• the needed research has been conducted,
• potential impacts and mitigation measures have been adequately addressed,
• effective oil spill clean-up technologies have been demonstrated and proven,
• decisions have been made to list all petitioned Arctic species, and
• critical habitat has been designated for all ESA species.

What You Can Do

1. Urge Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to halt new oil and gas leasing in the Chukchi Sea. Secretary Salazar extended the public comment period on the former Bush Administration's proposed five-year OCS oil and gas leasing plan until September 21, 2009, and he wants to hear from affected communities and concerned citizens. Please mail your comments to Secretary Salazar, c/o Ms. Renee Orr, Chief of Leasing Division, Minerals Management Service, MS 4010, 381 Elden Street, Herndon, VA 20170-4817.

Suggested talking points: "I am writing to comment on former President Bush's proposed New Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2010-2015. The proposed program is just too aggressive in the size and timing of oil and gas leases in Alaska's Arctic Ocean: the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. The Arctic Ocean is one of America's least studied and most sensitive marine areas. As recent court rulings have found, the ecological resources and potential impacts on these waters have been poorly analyzed in the rush to drill. I commend you for providing more time for public comment on OCS leasing plans, for your personal attendance at hearings around the country, and for your stated intention to base future oil and gas decisions on sound science. I strongly urge you to halt new leasing in the Arctic Ocean until we know more about the ecosystem, the potential impacts of oil and gas activity (including cumulative impacts), and the effects of climate change."

2. Join the Audubon Action Alert Network to receive periodic email alerts on urgent Arctic, Alaska, and national conservation issues as they arise. Click here to sign up or click here for more information.

3. Donate online now to Audubon Alaska to support our science and policy work in the Arctic.

Read More

“Alaska’s Important Bird Areas and Chukchi Sea Oil” – a blog article from the editors of Birder’s World magazine

’Polar Distress”- Audubon magazine’s article on the Chukchi lease sale