The polar bear attack on Phippsøya (Sjuøya­ne, Sval­bard) from Satur­day is dis­cus­sed in media and social media world­wi­de. The Sys­sel­man­nen (gover­nor, poli­ce) has released some details, but a lot of ques­ti­ons remain so far.

At 08.30 a.m. (local time), a group of 12 staff mem­bers of the crui­se ves­sel MS Bre­men went ashore on Phippsøya to prepa­re a landing for pas­sen­gers. The group was atta­cked on land by a polar bear, which did not react to shou­ting and shoo­ting with signal pis­tols. The bear atta­cked a 42 year old Ger­man staff mem­ber who suf­fe­r­ed head inju­ries. The man was taken to the hos­pi­tal and later Trom­sø, his con­di­ti­on is sta­ble.

The bear was shot by 2 other mem­bers of the group and later flown to Lon­gye­ar­by­en by heli­c­op­ter for inves­ti­ga­ti­ons.

This is the infor­ma­ti­on which has been released offi­ci­al­ly. All infor­ma­ti­on which cir­cu­la­tes in cur­rent public dis­cus­sions bey­ond this is spe­cu­la­ti­ve.

Polar bear on Phippsøya, a fre­quent­ly used landing site on Sjuøya­ne nor­t­hern­most in Spits­ber­gen (archi­ve image).

A man was inju­red by a polar bear today (Satur­day, 28 July) on Sjuøya­ne. The man sur­vi­ved with inju­ries, the bear was shot, as the Sys­sel­man­nen infor­med today.

The polar bear atta­cked per­sons who went ashore from the crui­se ship MS Bre­men. He is said to be a crew mem­ber ser­ving as polar bear guard, pre­pa­ring a tou­rist landing. He suf­fe­r­ed head inju­ries; no infor­ma­ti­on has yet been released about serious his inju­ries are. The man was brought to the hos­pi­tal in Lon­gye­ar­by­en by heli­c­op­ter.

The inci­dent will be inves­ti­ga­ted by the Sys­sel­man­nen, but first prio­ri­ty is given to pro­vi­si­on of medi­cal care to the inju­red man.

Polar bear on Phippsøya, a fre­quent­ly used landing site on Sjuøya­ne nor­t­hern­most in Spits­ber­gen (archi­ve image).

Way 300 in Lon­gye­ar­by­en was clo­sed for all traf­fic after a lands­li­de clo­se to the ceme­ta­ry. This road con­nects Skjæringa (the part of Lon­gye­ar­by­en whe­re church, Sys­sel­man­nen etc. are loca­ted) and Huset.

The Sys­sel­man­nen has now ope­ned Way 300 again for pede­stri­ans and bicy­clists. Moto­ri­sed traf­fic is not per­mit­ted. This is valid until fur­ther noti­ce from the Sys­sel­man­nen.

Lands­li­de in Lon­gye­ar­by­en near the ceme­tery: now way 300 is open again for non-moto­ri­sed traf­fic. Image © Alex­an­der Lembke.

On July 2, the tra­di­tio­nal ship­ping com­pa­ny Hur­tig­ru­ten cele­bra­tes its 125th bir­th­day and at the same time gives a pre­sent to the envi­ron­ment: From today on Hur­tig­ru­ten wants to banish all dis­posable pla­s­tic from its ships. No pla­s­tic straws, no stir­rers in pla­s­tic cof­fee cups, no pla­s­tic lids and not a sin­gle pla­s­tic bag should then be found on the ships.

This is only logi­cal: ship tra­vel­lers wit­ness the pol­lu­ti­on of the oce­ans with pla­s­tic was­te every day. Most of the pla­s­tic in the oce­ans comes from fishing, but pla­s­tic bot­t­les, pla­s­tic bags or other ever­y­day pla­s­tic artic­les also end up on Norway’s bea­ches by the ton and too often end up in the sto­machs of sea­birds, fish and wha­les.

Pla­s­tic was­te in Mushamna/ Spits­ber­gen

The ban on dis­posable pla­s­tic artic­les will be effec­ti­ve across the enti­re Hur­tig­ru­ten fleet, i.e. both on the legen­da­ry pos­tal ship rou­te from Ber­gen to Kir­kenes, as well as on crui­se ships in polar waters and in all land-based faci­li­ties and also on Spits­ber­gen.

Hurtigruten’s ambi­tious long-term goal is even to beco­me the first pla­s­tic-free ship­ping com­pa­ny in the world. Even if the­re is cer­tain­ly still much room for impro­ve­ment in the crui­se ship indus­try in terms of pol­lu­ti­on and CO2 emis­si­ons, the ban on dis­posable pla­s­tic is a wel­co­me step in the right direc­tion.

Soon free from diposable pla­s­tic: Hur­tig­ru­ten muse­ums­ship in Stok­marks­nes

Source: Hur­tig­ru­ten