'Complete devastation': Renowned polar bear biologist mourned after Nunavut helicopter crash
Scientists are mourning the loss of leading Canadian polar bear scientist Markus Dyck, who was one of three people on board a helicopter that crashed near Resolute Bay, Nunavut, on Sunday.
A close friend of Dyck's, Harvey Lemelin, said he was in "denial" when he first heard the news.
"I was looking for confirmation. I was hoping everybody was wrong. And then you find out that it's real — complete devastation," Lemelin said.
Dyck was surveying bear populations in Lancaster Sound for the Nunavut government on the day the helicopter crashed. Two other air crew also died.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/markus-dyck-polar-bear-biologist-remembered-1.6006459
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A tragic loss to the science of polar bear population research. Mr. Dyck was a champion of utilizing traditional Inuit knowledge as well as visual surveys to determine the status of the species. That region hasn't been surveyed since 1997 so nobody really knows what the numbers are.
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