As sea ice declines in the Arctic, bowhead whales are adjusting their migration patterns

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Two bowhead whales surface in a small lead in April 2012. Photo by Kate Stafford, Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University.

NEWPORT, Ore. – As sea ice declines in the Arctic, bowhead whales are staying north of the Bering Strait more frequently, a shift that could affect the long-term health of the bowhead population and impact the Indigenous communities that rely on the whales, a new study by Oregon State University researchers shows.

Bowhead whales found in the Pacific Arctic, sometimes called Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort bowheads based on their migratory patterns, normally winter in the northern Bering Sea and migrate north in the spring through the Bering Strait to

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