Ridiculous walrus propaganda from the AP/Washington Post

Walruses congregate on Alaska shore as ice melts - washingtonpost.com

Walruses for years came ashore intermittently during their fall southward migration but not so early and not in such numbers.

"This is actually all new," Jay said. "They did this in 2007, and it's a result of the sea ice retreating off the continental shelf."
...
"They may have a much higher predation pressure [from what?  How many predators are big enough to kill a walrus?  Surely we're not talking about allegedly starving polar bears gaining access to a rich source of food?!] on those nearshore areas when they're using those land haulouts than when they're using sea ice," Jay said.

Lots more information here: About those walrus stampedes

When I read this in the "walrus" Wikipedia entry, I'm also not convinced that lack of summer ice is necessarily a big deal:

In the non-reproductive season (late summer and fall) walruses tend to migrate away from the iceform massive aggregations of tens of thousands of individuals on rocky beaches or outcrops.