Posted by jessmil on 08/01/2006 10:56 am

31st July  
Walrus Islands

It’s a great feeling on the eyes to have something other than sea and clouds to look at. We are weaving our way between High island and Crooked island on our way to Round island, the last in this little group. There are supposed to be bull walrus here at this time of year as well as Steller sea lions, but they must be hiding as we’ve not spotted any yet. The crew are all in the bridge avidly looking around. In the distance is the mainland with its jumble of tall volcanic peaks and cliffs. It’s very beautiful in a rugged isolated kind of way and is having an effect on moral that is palpable in the crew.

Dave the scientist is really happy to be here and getting a feel for the place as he will be coming back here next summer for a more in depth survey of killer whales that he suspects may be here due to the rumoured walrus and sea lion.
The seabed has a lot of features here unlike the endless flat desert bottom we have been travelling over the last weeks and is a major spawning ground for pollock and other fish of the Bering that the fishing industry rely on. There are small 3 mile protection zones around the islands themselves that need to be vastly expanded if the ecosystem as a whole is to be protected for the future. Now that we have been here and documented what we see we will be in a stronger position to fight for what is right for the Bristol Bay ecosystem and the people that survive from its bounty.

On a more practical note- the ship is running well, apart from a blockage in one of the toilets that took a bit of clearing. It was quite funny though. Carroll went outside to take a photo and came running in saying there was an awful awful smell outside and what on earth could possibly make a smell that bad. Well, humans was the answer. Even a rookery with a thousand years of bird poop wafting across us smells better than we do!

Well its dinner time again, and its smelling pretty good (a lot of smells in this blog). We’ll eat and then get back to taking the small steps we have to take on this part of the campaign to
SAVE THE BERING SEA!!!

Adam