. >> reporter: our captain bruce inglunasak says these bears are here because they're waiting for the sea ice to return. the frozen surface of the arctic ocean where they spend most of the year feeding on seals. >> they're just conserving energy. they know they've got a long wait for freezing. >> reporter: until the freeze-up they scavenge on the remains of the bowhead whales the people of kaktovik must hunt to survive here. >> how long do polar bears linger or stay around these parts? >> every year the fall time they'll hang out here till it's mid november, and then they'll -- when the ice start forming out in the ocean, when that starts happening the seals go on the ice and that's where the polar bears get their seals, it's on the ice. and if that ice is not there, they don't get them. >> reporter: the bears used to spend just three weeks on land. but today they are stranded for nearly three months because the ice is staying melted longer. scientists say it's due to global warming. in this part of the world the sea ice is declining at a rate of 9% a decade. a dramatic number for pol