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Polar Bears Affected by Climate Change · How To Protect The Ocean

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  Polar bears in the western part of Hudson
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  Bay in Canada are in trouble.
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  In fact, their population has declined
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  from 1,200 individuals
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  to 600 individuals over
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  the last four decades.
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  On this episode of the How to Protect the
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  Ocean podcast, we are
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  going to discuss what
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  the cause was, what the effect is, and
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  how do we right the ship.
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  Let's start the show.
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  Hey, everybody.
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  Welcome back to another exciting episode
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  of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  I'm your host, Andrew Lewin, and this is
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  the podcast where you
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  find out what's happening
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  with the ocean, how you can speak up for
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  the ocean, what you can
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  do to live for a better
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  ocean by taking action.
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  And on today's episode, we're going to be
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  talking about polar bears and the decline
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  of a population in
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  the western Hudson Bay.
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  It's been studied for
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  the last four decades.
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  We have long-term data and we finally
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  have the answer of how
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  climate change is a polar
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  bears. So we're going to talk all about that.
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  But before we get into it, if you're new
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  on this podcast and you
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  are just watching this
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  on YouTube for the first time or on
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  Spotify, or you're
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  listening to this on your favorite
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  podcast app, first thing you do
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  subscribe, hit that notification bell.
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  But also, if you want more information on
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  how to protect the
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  ocean, you can go to our
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  website speakupforblue.com.
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  And if you want information to your inbox
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  from that site, you can
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  go to speakupforblue.com
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  forward slash newsletter and
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  sign up for our newsletter.
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  Let's get into the show.
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  This is really what's happened.
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  There were 1200
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  individuals four decades ago.
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  Now there are 600 individuals.
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  And throughout my career as a marine
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  biologist, including
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  schooling, I always knew that polar
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  bears were the canary in the
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  coal mine for climate change.
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  We knew that these massive animals, seven
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  foot high, big bear,
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  big white bear, strong,
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  they can hunt from kilometers away.
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  They will eat pretty much anything that
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  comes in their way,
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  but they prefer seals.
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  They prefer those marine mammals that are
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  in the sea that they
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  can cast that are high
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  in fatty tissue.
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  That's what they want.
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  That gives them their energy.
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  It's harsh up in the Arctic.
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  It is cold.
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  It is windy.
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  There's not a lot of food on the ground.
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  So they go out to sea and they require
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  sea ice to float out at sea.
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  And over the last four decades, we've
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  seen that decline of sea
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  ice due to climate change.
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  That's the warming of the
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  planet causing ice to melt.
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  So less ice is available.
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  That means less ice floats are available
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  for them to use to rest.
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  This is what happens during
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  a certain time of the year.
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  The polar bears will come down to the
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  Western part of the Hudson's Bay.
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  They will wait for the
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  ice floats to come in.
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  So it's broken up ice that come in.
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  They'll start swimming out and they'll
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  rest on the sea ice.
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  In fact, if they actually catch a seal,
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  they will use the ice
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  float to eat the seals.
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  They have time and they can rest.
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  It's hard to float when
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  you're that big of an animal.
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  And so you want to be able to rest and
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  eat and enjoy your meal
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  and then go back out and
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  look for more hunt, right?
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  This is a big part of their feeding.
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  They need to hunt in the
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  water and on ice floats.
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  And if they can't do that,
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  then they have a problem.
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  Then they can't eat.
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  They do not have the energy to actually
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  go out at sea because
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  they are not eating.
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  So they start to waste away inside.
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  There's not enough sea ice.
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  They have to find enough for them to go
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  back and say, "Hey, you know what?
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  I need to find food.
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  Where am I going to find food?
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  I'll start looking on land."
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  I'm not sure if you've seen the Arctic,
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  but there's not a lot around.
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  You get maybe some foxes.
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  You might get some other bears around.
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  You might get some wolves around.
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  You might get some
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  birds and stuff like that.
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  Birds and berries.
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  That's what they scour for.
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  But there's not a lot around.
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  And so they need to find
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  the food as fast as they can.
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  They need to find out the travel a lot.
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  That means they're using
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  more energy to find that food.
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  And they found out that their energetic
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  content is just a lot lower.
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  There was a study out of the University
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  of Toronto by Dr.
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  Louise Archer, lead author
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  of the study and an international
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  postdoctoral fellow at the university.
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  She said, "The melting of sea ice has
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  shortened the polar bears
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  feeding season, which has
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  resulted in an energy deficit for the
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  bears for longer stretches of the year."
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  So researchers have actually known for
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  sometimes that the
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  population is in trouble.
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  Peter Molnar, who is the senior author of
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  the study and associate
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  professor at the University
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  of Toronto in Scarborough, they created a
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  bioenergetic model that could incorporate
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  the different ways the polar bears have
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  been affected by the sea loss.
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  So combined with analysis of four decades
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  on research, which is
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  a lot of data on the
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  Hudson's Bay population, the scientists
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  were able to determine
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  the underlying mechanisms
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  of driving these changes.
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  When we run the numbers, we show a
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  declining reproductive
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  size in this region over the
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  last four decades.
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  What happens when you can't eat properly,
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  you start to waste away.
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  And if you start to waste away, your body
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  starts to get really
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  tight in terms of holding
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  on to certain parts of your
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  body that needs to survive.
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  So that means your
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  reproduction goes down.
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  That means your overall health goes down.
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  You lose a lot of your fatty tissue
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  because your body's
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  trying to dissolve that energy
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  to try and survive and just try and use
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  that energy up to get more food.
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  But it's really difficult.
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  So if a bear tries to catch a seal in
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  open water, the seal
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  will outswim the bear pretty
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  much every time.
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  It's got to be from the top into the
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  water and drag the seal on top.
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  That's not an easy thing to do, but it's
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  easier for the polar
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  bear because it can put
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  its four paws or three paws on the sea
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  ice and then dip one paw in.
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  If you ever been to the zoo and you've
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  seen polar bears at the
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  zoo and you see they have
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  like a toy, it's like
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  enrichment essentially.
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  And it's basically like a big bin, right?
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  It's a plastic bin that has holes in it
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  so it can get the water in.
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  And what the polar bear will do is it'll
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  dip its paw in and grab
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  the barrel and lift it
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  out and on top of the water.
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  That's almost like a workout.
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  It's almost like taking a dumbbell for
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  it, although it weighs
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  probably like a thousand
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  pounds and it'll lift up the barrel and
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  it's like lifting up the
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  dumbbell and putting on
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  the ground.
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  It's kind of working out to practice
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  using its paw to get the
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  seal onto the ice float,
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  right?
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  Obviously they're not eating seals when
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  they're in the zoo, but
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  that's what they're trying
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  to mimic.
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  So it has that same
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  type of body type, right?
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  It has the same type of muscle memory
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  when it starts to take things out.
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  So it's always good to
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  have that type of enrichment.
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  So how do we fix this?
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  It's not an easy fix and there are people
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  out there that are working hard.
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  So the first one is the
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  polar bear international.
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  So polar bear international is actually
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  working really hard to try and help these
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  polar bears survive
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  and try and keep their
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  population stable instead of declining.
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  So they do things in about five different
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  pillars, which I'll read off here.
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  So they are big on to research.
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  So PBI conducts scientific studies to
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  understand polar bear behavior, health
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  and public and population dynamics.
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  Plus technology such as GPS collars and
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  drones to monitor movements and assess
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  the impacts of climate
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  change on polar bear populations.
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  They also to go through education through
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  initiatives like Tugger Connections
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  webcasts and the polar bear cam.
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  PBI provides educational content of
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  schools, communities and the public
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  raising awareness about the challenges
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  polar bears face in the
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  importance of Arctic ecosystems.
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  Advocacy. PBI engages with policymakers
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  and international conservation groups to
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  promote protective
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  measures to polar bears.
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  They participate in development of
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  conservation strategies and provide
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  scientific data to inform policy
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  decisions and community
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  engagement. Recognize the
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  importance of local government.
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  PBI collaborates with Arctic communities
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  to develop systems to minimize human
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  polar bear conflicts
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  and support coexistence.
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  And the last pillar public awareness
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  campaigns. Events like the International
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  Polar Bear Day on February 27th aim to
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  highlight the effects of climate change
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  on polar bears and encourage global
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  action to reduce carbon emissions.
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  So through these efforts, PBI strives to
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  ensure a future where polar bears can
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  continue to thrive in
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  their natural habitats.
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  This is not easy work. The biggest thing
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  that we need to do is we need to cut down
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  on climate change emissions.
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  We need to engage with local communities
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  to ensure that they are minimizing their
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  contact with polar bears as they come
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  more on land to hunt.
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  As well as ensure that they are
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  knowledgeable on what's happening and not
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  just they are knowledgeable. Local
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  communities teach scientists about their
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  knowledge of polar bear movements and how
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  that has changed over
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  the last hundreds of years.
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  For decades is a lot of information, but
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  knowing that information over the last
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  couple of centuries is really great.
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  And local communities in these areas
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  typically tend to be
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  indigenous communities.
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  They just have that knowledge going back
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  for centuries through their storytelling.
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  So it'll be really interesting to see how
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  that knowledge exchange works to protect
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  polar bears in the future.
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  But the big part of it is we need to
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  ensure that climate change is addressed
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  because the Arctic is the
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  first thing to start to feel it.
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  We now know that the population of polar
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  bears have declined by half over the past
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  four decades and we don't
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  want to lose these polar bears.
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  These are very important predators to our
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  ecosystem and they need to be there and
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  we need to protect them.
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  That's it for today's episode.
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  I want to share that with you because I
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  think it's really important to know it's
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  not the best news, obviously, but it's
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  news that we need to know what's
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  happening up in Hudson Bay and what's happening up in Hudson Bay.
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  And what's happening with the loss of our
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  sea ice and how that's
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  affecting polar bear populations.
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  If you have any questions or comments,
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  please leave a comment down below either
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  on YouTube or on Spotify.
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  And if you're listening on this on a
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  favorite podcast app, hit me up on
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  out Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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  I want to thank you so much for joining
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  me on today's episode of the how to
• 1:08:51
  protect the ocean from the
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  true North strong and free.
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  My name is Andrew.
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  Have a great day.
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  We'll talk to you next
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  time and happy conservation.