By George Mackie, The Washington Newsday

Killer whales are being drawn further north by melting Arctic ice.

A large flock of seagulls circles above an Arctic fjord in the dim winter darkness of northern Norway, signaling the presence of a group of rare predators in the water below.

Killer whales are expanding their hunting areas further north and spending more time in polar seas as Arctic sea ice shrinks at record levels owing to global warming, according to US experts.

However, orcas, who are at the top of the food chain, risk creating a “ecological imbalance” in the Arctic by feeding on vulnerable species, according to a research published this month by the University of Washington.

When AFP went to the massive Skjervoy fjord in the Arctic Ocean, it saw 70 to 80 killer whales gathered in family groups of about ten, including calves under a year old.

The famous black and white member of the dolphin family, whose males may grow up to eight metres (26 feet) long and weigh six tonnes, is learning to adapt to the recently thawed waters of the Arctic Ocean, according to increasingly frequent and northerly sightings.

“We discovered orcas in the Barents Sea in November between Svalbard and Franz Josef Land using acoustic studies, indicating that they are clearly following the edge of the ice,” Marie-Anne Blanchet of the Norwegian Polar Institute told AFP.

The killer whale, which has a global population of 50,000 and can be found in practically all of the world’s seas, feeds on Arctic prey including beluga whales and, most likely, seals, according to the expert.

The whales’ shifting migration habits are apparently linked to the fact that their preferred meal, herring, is likewise moving north for unknown causes.

“They are opportunistic predators with a high potential for adaptation,” Blanchet explained.

The increased hunting areas are also causing unprecedented human strife.

Four orcas, viewed as an unwelcome rival by local fishermen and hunters, were killed in the waters around Greenland’s capital Nuuk at the end of November, an act permitted by Greenlandic legislation.

The increased migration of super predators is a result of the increasingly long season when the Arctic Ocean is free of ice, according to a University of Washington study released in early December.

“It’s not that killer whales haven’t been documented in these places before,” co-author Brynn Kimber noted, “but that they appear to be staying in the area for extended lengths of time.”

The Arctic is three degrees warmer than it was three years ago. The Washington Newsday Brief News is a daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C.