Oil workers on the North Slope fields of Alaska are reporting record numbers of polar bears, an indication that they seeking food inland as sea ice retreats.

Polar Bear sighting on the southern Beaufort Sea coast increased from as 15 year average of 138 to 321 in 2007 and 313 in 2008, a significant increase from the previous high of 232 in 2005.

The increased sightings are in line with predictions from organisations such as WWF that as sea ice shrinks, polar bears will be forced to spend more time on land.

Polar bears spend most of the year on the sea ice that covers the Arctic Ocean where they are able to hunt their favoured prey of ringed and bearded seals. In the summer they are forced to retreat to the edge of land masses such as Northern Canada, Alaska and Russia where they loose up to a third of their body weight as hunting opportunities are limited.

However, as arctic temperature rise, the sea ice is melting earlier in the spring and is not returning until later in the autumn. As a result, starving polar bears are being forced inland to hunt.

Surveys indicate that the polar bear population is already in decline and if sea-ice loss continues as forecasted, the bears could someday disappear from large areas, including Alaska’s coastal waters.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service estimates the southern Beaufort Sea polar bear population at 1,500 in 2006, a drop from the previous estimate of 1,800.

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