The State of Circumpolar Walrus Populations

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(www.iucn.org/about/). The IUCN has observer and consultative status at the United Nations,
and plays a role in the implementation of several international conventions on nature
conservation and biodiversity. One of its important products is the IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species, which uses a scientific approach to evaluate risk of extinction.
The walrus as a species was assessed in 2008 and listed as Data Deficient (Lowry et al. 2008). The
justifications for this listing were evidence of declining populations in two subspecies, an
expectation that climate change would negatively impact walruses—particularly Pacific walruses,
and lack of recent data on population sizes and trends throughout much of the species’ range.
While these opinions and decisions may influence management decisions within member states
there is no mechanism for their enforcement on member states. The Pacific walrus, including
animals in the Laptev Sea, was reassessed in 2014 (Lowry 2015). The subspecies was again listed
as Data Deficient, primarily on the basis that the actual current abundance and population trend
are largely unknown. The national Greenland IUCN redlist has not been reviewed since 2007
(K.W. Hansen, WWF Denmark, pers. comm.).
THREATS TO WALRUS CONSERVATION
Walruses are gregarious and valuable, with a narrow trophic niche and restricted seasonal
distribution that makes them relatively easy for hunters to locate and vulnerable to environmental
changes (Born et al. 1995). Hunting continues to be an important limiting factor for walruses but
industrial development and climate change may become increasingly important. For example,
shipping on a massive scale from iron mine development may soon disrupt Atlantic walrus
habitats in Hudson Strait and Foxe Basin (Canada) year-round (NIRB 2012, 2014). Hydrocarbon
exploration and development has the potential to affect Atlantic walruses east and west of
Greenland (Mosbech et al. 2007; Boertmann et al. 2009a, 2013; Frederiksen et al. 2012; Merkel
et al. 2012) and in the Barents Sea (Boltunov et al. 2010; Lydersen et al. 2012:1555; Semyonova et
al. 2015). Loss of sea ice is helping to enable these activities and others such as ship-based
tourism (e.g., COSEWIC 2006; Wiig et al. 2014).
The status review compiled for the Pacific walrus in response to a petition to list the subspecies
under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, provides a comprehensive analysis of stressors currently
affecting the Pacific walrus and stressors that are anticipated to become more important in the
future (Garlich-Miller et al. 2011). The primary current and emerging conservation threats
identified by Garlich-Miller et al. (2011) and USFWS (2014) are potential disturbance from oil
and gas exploration in the Chukchi Sea, climate change (particularly declines in sea extent) and