Minor aside in this slang fest (; most polar bears deaths were/are due to .308 caliber rifle ammunition issued by the Canadian government to aboriginals.
Almost ten years ago now, ( I think it was ) In the James Bay region alone, there were 105 tags ( permits to shoot ) Polar bears. The treaty natives objected to a proposed reduction in the number of tags issued.
One of the main voices in the opposition to the tag reduction, was the grandson of the innuit guide aboard RCMP Sergeant Larsens St Roch, a slightly longer than 100 foot wooden vessel that transited the northern northwest passage route in 88 days in 1944. The St Roch is currently in the Vancouver Maritime museum, I read the log books; but as of 2009 they aren’t available on board or on site anymore.
I think that was near the end of the last warm phase of the pacific decadal oscillation (1944) . The satellite pics recorded a polar ice high stand (late seventies ) , and the subsequent effects of the current warm phase of the pdo. I think it possible the effect of this natural influence is less recognized than it deserves.
I had to shoot a polar bear once, in 1978, because it wouldn’t let me out of the airplane. They can be pesks, some colonies are growing, some are decreasing.
The blue line marks the 1944 St Roch voyage, I live on the left edge of the chart.
from
Across the Northwest Passage: The Larsen Expeditions | Arctic Expedition | University of Calgary
