Closing glacier tours?

[mikewrit]

Haven't seen this item anywhere else on Cruise Critic, though I may have missed it:

(AP) ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Federal scientists are recommending rules that could restrict cruise ship visits to Alaska's Hubbard Glacier, the longest tidewater glacier in North America, because of the threat they pose to harbor seals, a marine mammal important to Native Alaskan subsistence hunters in nearby Yakutat.

 

Scientists from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, say cruise ships making their way through Disenchantment Bay on their way to the glacier flush seals from ice floes into chilly sea water during critical pupping and molting periods.

[Lindypc]

Haven't seen this item anywhere else on Cruise Critic, though I may have missed it:

(AP) ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Federal scientists are recommending rules that could restrict cruise ship visits to Alaska's Hubbard Glacier, the longest tidewater glacier in North America, because of the threat they pose to harbor seals, a marine mammal important to Native Alaskan subsistence hunters in nearby Yakutat.

 

Scientists from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, say cruise ships making their way through Disenchantment Bay on their way to the glacier flush seals from ice floes into chilly sea water during critical pupping and molting periods.

 

When we were there in early June, we couldn't go up to the glacier because of that reason--the pupping. We did get to see it from a distance and we went everywhere else. We were on PCL

[Naismith]

When we were there in early June, we couldn't go up to the glacier because of that reason--the pupping. We did get to see it from a distance and we went everywhere else. We were on PCL

 

Well, apparently not all (most!) cruise ships are complying with the previous restrictions according to the study.

 

This could indeed have profound consequences for future cruises.

[Yukon]

Scientists from the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, say cruise ships making their way through Disenchantment Bay on their way to the glacier flush seals from ice floes into chilly sea water during critical pupping and molting periods.

 

I hope that they have video of that actually happening. We pulled up close to hundreds of seals in September - the seals were not alarmed and were certainly not "flushed into chilly sea water" as the ship was barely moving! Some of the largest glacier calving, though, did cause the ice floes that the seals were on to rock a lot. http://explorenorth.com/blog/4954-seals-430.jpg

[Chenega]

The Anchorage Daily News is carrying the story this morning: http://www.adn.com

[vbmom87]

direct link to the Anchorage News story:

 

http://www.adn.com/2011/01/15/1650444/new-rules-may-separate-tour-ships.html