What the future brings the Polar Bears?

An important meeting with the signatory parties of the Polar Bear Agreement is taking place in Tromsø between 17th and 19th March 2009.

In 1973 the countries with a polar bear population (Russia, Denmark/Greenland, Norway, USA and Canada) managed to agree on the protection regime for polar bears. Only traditional hunting would be allowed. In Spitsbergen the polar bears are not hunted at all by indigenous peoples - hence the local population is functioning as a reference.

However, the Norwegian Minister of Environment, Erik Solheim is pointing at excessive tourism as a potential threat towards this population (in addition to sea ice reduction and long-transported pollutants that bio-magnify in the food-web and ends up in high concentrations in top-predators). He is off course right, excessive and irresponsible tourism is a threat - but not the only.

Over the years, I have conducted about 60 sea-born expeditions with tourists to the areas of Svalbard with the highest concentrations of polar bears - the eastern parts of the archipelago. Once, I have flown with helicopter over some of the same areas.

Obvious to me; My one helicopter ride caused more stressed polar bears than all my 60 expeditions combined (by far).

Tourism flights with helicopters are prohibited in Svalbard. Tourism and conservation in Polar Regions are highly compatible and should be used for what it's worth to advocate the polar bear cause.

The pictures below are calm and easy going polar bears, on the east side of Svalbard.

Chinstrap Penguins at Baily Head, Antarctica

This picture is taken very early in the morning. I was guiding a group of hikers across from Baily Head, Deception Island, Antarctica to Whalers Bay. This is a fantastic hike that takes you through one of the largest chinstrap penguin colonies in the Antarctic Peninsula.

BAS Twin Otters

Fascination for polar aviation? These British Antarctic Survey planes are stationed in the Falkland Islands where I took this picture. They stand out even better in an all white Antarctic environment.

Hammerfest

Travelled through Hammerfest a while ago with Hurtigruten. What a city! Quite colorful and thriving on the natural gas taken ashore on the nearby Melkøya, where there is a plant that is, essentially, a giant 10 billion $ fridge that makes it liquid and transfers it to Liquid Natural Gas vessels that takes it to the markets.




A few hours further north, before you arrive the port of Havøysund, you witness another method of luring energy out of nature. The giant windmills dot the spectacular cliff in an intriguing way.

Skiing; somewhere 20 minutes from Tromsø

This was a couple of weekends ago, at the darkest of polar night... My best outdoor experience so far this year :-)

Nisse

You can notice it from the little nisse-men ducking up from nowhere - x-mas is close. Here is the nisse-man aboard MS Lofoten, a beautiful vintage vessel sailing along the coast of Norway.

Fast ferry to Harstad

I took Hurtigruten from Harstad to Tromsø on friday. On our way we met the fast ferry going in the opposite direction in fantastic winter light.

Raudtind in Tromsø

Dark season skiing in Tromsø is great. Not too much light, but enough to have a great time on the mountain.

Polar Bear Stuff

Tromsø is the un-disputed polar bear capital of Norway. No, they are not roaming the streets like in the old days, when trappers brought with them live cubs from Svalbard. Some of the trappers handled them like dogs, walked them in a leach and tied them up outside bars and shops. Anyhow, today, it's the capital of stuffed polar bears, and I have a goal of documenting as many as possible of them. This is the first, from the hall of Norwegian Polar Institute.

Hunting the Light

Sailed from Tromsø to Bergen this week. Fantastic light - forget the midnight sun and all those things we've seen a million times.

Spitsbergen in October

The tourist season is over in Spitsbergen and the community of Longyearbyen has geared down. The day is getting about 15 minutes shorter in each end, every day and the light is fantastic. At night you can get lucky and have clear skies with aurora borealis like we did on our hike to a cabin outside town...

Weekend in Havnnes

Havnnes is an old merchant place where fishermen have been delivering fish for centuries. Archeological findings proves this to be a dwelling place as old as 6000 years. Havnnes is situated on the island of Uløya and you need to take a short ferry ride to get there. The total number of inhabitants is about 55. This a fantastic place to retreat. You can rent a house for about 100 Euro that sleeps 6. When we arrived it was even lit up in the fire place and we could start relaxing immediately. You can also rent a boat if you like to tempt your luck with the fishing rod or you can go the easy way of buying a dried, tasty fish at the grocery store. This is a great place that will never become over-crowded - it's you, the locals, maybe a few Czech fishing enthusiasts, clean air, magnificent views and the occasional sea eagle.

Ice Cutting in Tempelfjorden, Spitsbergen

This is the highlight of my winter. I took part in a logistic operation with Spitsbergen Travel. The task was to cut out ice-blocks from glacier ice. The best spot for this was about 60 kilometers out of Longyearbyen. In February the light is fantastic.

Pinga and Geir hiking

Pinga is following in the footsteps of Geir Borch Karlsen on a hike at Kattfjordeidet, Kvaløya, Norway. We are waiting for the big snowfalls.

The Polar Circle in December

I drove from south to north in Norway last weekend. I had a magic morning when I crossed the Saltfjellet (a mountain). It was almost no traffic, It was blue light and I just had to stop at the Polar Circle to take this picture.

White Sea - Russia

I was just stuck in a hotel in Moscow. Bad luck, but at the same time it gave me an opportunity to re-live yesterday. I had a memorable day on the Northern Dvina River. Together with my Russian friends; Olga, Vladimir, Jury, Natasha and Anna I had the pleasure exploring the borders of the White Sea. It made me feel like continuing an ancient tradition of keeping up the good relationship between the Pomor People and Northern Norway. Mayor of Patrakeevka; Petr Ivanovich Kopytov (you see him in the only portrait below) had a first class, number one welcome in his village, that's for sure. In excitement I took a few pictures...

Arkhangelsk Airport

Had this view at the Airport in Arkhangelsk today.