West Ice

West Ice in the Greenland Sea

The West Ice is a major breeding ground for seals, especially harp seals and hooded seals. It was discovered in the early 18th century by British whalers. At the time, whalers were not interested in seal hunting as long as there was ample stock of bowhead whales in the area. However, after the 1750s, the whale population had been depleted in the area, and systematic seal hunting started, first by British ships and then by German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, and Russian ships. The annual catches were 120,000 animals around 1900, mostly by Norway and Russia, and rose to 350,000 by the 1920s. They then declined, first because of imposed restrictions on total allowable catch and then in response to decreasing market demand. Nevertheless, the seal population in the West Ice was rapidly falling, from an estimated 1,000,000 in 1956 to 100,000 in the 1980s. In the 1980s–1990s, takings of harp seals totaled 8,000–10,000, and annual catches of hooded seals totaled a few thousand between 1997 and 2001.

Seal hunting in the West Ice was a dangerous occupation, as floating ice, storms and winds posed constant threat to the ships; in the 19th century, the hunters often encountered frozen human bodies on the West Ice.

The word "West" contrasts with the East Ice (Østisen), which refers to the ice-covered waters east and south of Svalbard, including Barents Sea and White Sea.

West Ice in the Baffin Bay

The word vestisen ("the west ice") in a Greenland-specific context in the Danish language refers to the sea ice off Greenland's west coast in the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay. This could cause confusion when comparing or translating Danish and Norwegian sources. The band of sea ice in the East Greenland Current is referred to as Storisen, which translates as The Large or Grand Ice, in reference to the density of multi-year sea ice and icebergs. The Storisen is a band of ice rather than a specific area, typically spanning the entire east coast and round Cape Farewell. The word East Ice is occasionally used to more generally refer to all sea ice waters off the east coast, which thus includes the patch that in Norwegian and English is named West Ice.

References

References

1. Arnoldus Schytte Blix. (2005). "Arctic animals and their adaptations to life on the edge". Tapir Academic Press.
2. Farley Mowat. (2004). "Sea of slaughter". Stackpole Books.
3. (1982). "Mammals in the Seas: Small Cetaceans, Seals, Sirenians and Otters". Food & Agriculture Org.
4. (2005). "Arctic climate impact assessment, ACIA scientific report". Cambridge University Press.
5. A [[West Ice accidents
6. [http://fiskeribladetfiskaren.no/default.asp?side=101&lesmer=6881 Orkanen i Vestisen april 1952] (in Norwegian)
7. Av Bjørn Davidsen [http://home.online.no/~fndbred/alarmv.htm Da alarmen gikk i Vestisen] {{webarchive. link. (2011-01-19 , FiskeribladetFiskaren 8 April 2008 (in Norwegian))
8. Arnold Farstad: ''Mysteriet i Vestisen: selfangsttragedien som lamslo nasjonen'', ("The West Ice Mystery: The Seal Hunting Tragedy that Stunned the Nation") Samlaget, 2001, {{ISBN. 82-521-5849-8
9. "Grønlandssel".
10. "Arktisk Institut - arktiske billeder".
11. "Iskort".
12. "The Ice of the Seas in the North American Arctic Encyclopedia Arctica 7: Meteorology and Oceanography".