Activist urges walrus rafts in absence of Arctic sea ice
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An environmental activist is calling on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider placing anchored rafts in the ocean as resting platforms for walruses after stampedes killed 64 animals on Alaska’s northwest coast.
Rick Steiner, an environmental consultant and former University of Alaska marine conservation professor, pitched the idea two years ago. The Fish and Wildlife Service concluded it didn’t have the money or manpower to provide artificial resting platforms that might give a few walruses relief but not benefit the population as a whole in the absence of ice in the Chukchi Sea.
Steiner said he’s again asking the agency to take the lead in a raft pilot project because sea ice continues to diminish and artificial platforms could provide alternatives to huge herds gathering on the Alaska coast.
“If it doesn’t work, then it doesn’t work,” Steiner said Friday. “We know what doesn’t work: sitting around in office looking at computer screens and having teleconferences expressing concerns about this.”