Churchill experienced one of the earliest snowfalls of a polar bear season in many years yesterday. Chilly temperatures and white ground cover have provided nice early season conditions for polar bears out on the tundra. These photos of a mother and cub are exciting fresh images to start the new season. This is looking like it could be one of the best polar bear seasons in a long time!
First polar bears at the tundra lodge in the Churchill Wildlife Management Area. Jason Luoma photo.
Grain vessel awaits docking at the Port of Churchill. Photo Steve Selden
The Churchill shipping season is off to a late start this fall, nearly a month behind its regular schedule for shipping grain and wheat products from the port to various countries worldwide.
Late harvest, shallow inventory as well as shipping industry variables have created a created a time sensitive shipping schedule to attain the slightly lower average tonnage threshold according to Merv Tweed, OmniTRAX Canada president. OmniTRAX is the owner/operator of the Port of Churchill and they hope to reach 400,000 to 500,000 tonnes of grain by November and the end of the shipping season.
With this goal about 12 and 15 ships will make Churchill a port of call this year. Between now and the first week of November, the port will have to hustle to meet the quota projected. Sea ice will begin to clog passages at that time and ships will be unable to safely pass through Hudson Bay to reach Churchill.
Port of Churchill frozen and shut down for the season. Photo Steve Selden
“We’re seeing the volumes increase. The biggest challenge the grain sellers have is just getting the ship allocation,”stated Tweed. “No one seems to know why (the ships are late in arriving), other than that it was a late grain season.”
Lentils have made a return to the shipping docket as two ships are now scheduled for this season after a few years absence from the product ledger.
“We are hoping it will become a bigger opportunity as the market for lentils grows,” Tweed said. “It may become the specialty crop that we grow our business on just based on the amount of production coming out of northern Saskatchewan.”
Northern Saskatchewan is the prime supplier to the port of Wheat and grain products across the board with 70 per cent production from that region.
A few years ago, OmniTRAX announced plans to get into the crude oil shipping business, however that agenda has not materialized amid public outcry. Tweed indicated that oil transport is no longer being pursued. The surprise announcement that a $22 million Churchill Marine Observatory to study the detection, impact and mitigation of oil spills in the Arctic raises questions as to future possibilities of such commerce.
For now only grain products will leave the port and this season will be a condensed and frantic one to say the least!
Sled – dogs in Churchill only have seven more months until the start of the annual Hudson Bay Quest! This year’s race will start in Churchill and end in Gillam as the course direction alternates each year. This year should be another thrilling race as last year’s champion Martin Massicotte will try to defend his title! Churchill is an amazing place to visit in March not only for the Hudson Bay Quest but to see the mystical northern lights as well!
Hudson Bay Quest dog eager to run. Laurie Dingwall photo.
Churchill has polar bear alert to protect residents and tourists from harm. Grise Fiord, Nunavut’s northernmost community with a population of 148, may soon have muskoxen alert for the same reason! Two muskoxen have been seen along the coast and another has been a hindrance near the airport runway.
Grise Fiord’s population of 148 is the smallest community in Nunavut. located on the southeast coast of Ellesmere island it is also the most remote. Government of Nunavut image.
Grise Fiord mayor Meeka Kigutak says the muskoxen are likely on a natural migration path though are very territorial. There’s a chance they will move away from the town on their own but are fair game for residents if they come closer and linger. “The wildlife office has advised us that anyone in our community can catch the two muskox.”, Kigutak says.
Muskoxen on the coast at Grise Fiord. Joanne Dignard photo.
Kigutak says the community of Grise Fiord is already a little on edge following the apparent tracking of a local woman by a polar bear last winter. Over a decade ago a child teasing a muskoxen was injured when the animal charged him. Muskoxen have sharp tusks and become aggressive when cornered or threatened. No incidents have been reported since.
Muskoxen blending with the rocky coast in Grise Fiord. Joanne Dignard photo.
Beluga whales trained by biologists to retrieve experimental torpedoes in the 1970’s and 80’s in Arctic cold waters thought of themselves as family to the crew. They often formed deep bonds with their trainers and would stay with them even though they were able to swim freely. The whales, especially one, learned to express their devotion in a quite human-like way over the years!
Beluga whale communicating with his pod in Churchill. Ellen Cuylaerts photo.
Biologist Sam Ridgeway was one of the bilogists working with the whales and had high praise for the mammals.
“They come to think of us as family,” Ridgway said. “And that’s the reason they stay with us. We have no way of completely controlling them, and yet they do their job and come back. They kind of view themselves as part of a team.”
One of the belugas was named Noc (pronounced no-see) and he was particularly bonded to the staff. One day a navy diver thought he heard a command from his supervisor over the intercom while diving but it wasn’t from him. it was actually Noc mimicking human voice after carefully observing the interactions and commands from his loyal crew.
The diver thought he heard a voice order him to get out of the training tank. However his supervisor had not given any such order. Noc had over – inflated his nasal cavity in order to distort the sound he emitted. It was eerily human – like. Following this initial incident, Noc often attempted to communicate with his trainers and even did so on command.
If you listen closely you will hear the underwater dialogue that closely resembles human speech. Many whales and dolphins have this incredible ability to communicate through language. Blue whales have been studied and found to communicate over a 1000 mile stretch of ocean. We have so much more to learn from these incredible animals in the realm of audible communication!
Sergey Ananov a Russian pilot attempting to circumnavigate the Arctic Circle in a two-seater Robinson R22 helicopter went down in the Arctic Ocean after his helicopter lost altitude for nearly three minutes. A gear belt broke midway through his flight to Greenland from Iqualuit and Ananov ditched the aircraft in the Davis Strait in frigid, ice strewn waters.
Pilot Sergei Ananov was flying to Nuuk, Greenland from Iqualuit when his helicopter faltered and crashed. Sergei Ananov photo.
Ananvov had time only to secure a life raft before the helicopter sunk out of sight in the ocean. He was rescued off an ice floe 30 hours after his helicopter crashed. At that point Ananov had to fight two enemies; frigid cold and polar bears!
Ananov, a sociologist and journalist, has had no experience with polar bears and had to try anything to fend off a few.
“I was trembling from the very first minute of my stay on the ice,” said Ananov. His clothes were soaking wet.
Shivering in wet clothes, the first of three polar bears arrived, a moment Ananov describes as “terrifying.”
“I had my strategy,” he says. “I was hiding under my life raft (and) when they were very, very close I just jumped out of my raft.”
“I (understood) I must do something very angry and frightening,” he says, “so I roared at them, I put up my hands and I chased them.”
As he managed to stay somewhat warm with the life raft as cover and his success in scaring the polar bears away gave him some hope, Ananov quickly faced another obstacle…fog.
“At some point I was losing hope because I thought this fog will never disappear,” he says.
Late Sunday night, the fog cleared and Ananov heard a helicopter above him and saw a distant light.
“Here I said, ‘Okay this is my last chance and the last flare,’” he added. “They noticed the very last seconds of the flare.”
Canadian Coast Guard ship Pierre Radisson, was the safe haven for Ananov after his rescue. On board he was warmed up, medically treated and ate a “brilliant supper.
Ananov thanked the coast guard fervently for “a tremendous job.”
