Polar Bear Management in the
United States
Meeting of the Parties to the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears
September 1 - 3, 2015
Accomplishments Implementing
the 1973 Agreement
Article II – Manage Polar Bear Populations in
Accordance with Sound Conservation Practices
• Released draft Conservation and Management
Plan for Polar Bears - we will discuss details of
the plan tomorrow
Article VII – Research and information sharing
• Several reports relative to efforts by USGS, NSB
and Alaska Nanuuq Commission as well as
USFWS
Accomplishments Implementing
the 1973 Agreement
Article III – Taking of Polar Bears
• Maintained our “Incidental Take Regulations” that provide
specific guidance to the oil and gas industry
• Deterrence Guidelines and Education Collaborating with our
Alaskan Native partners on “polar bear patrols”
• Harvest
• Working to ensure that harvest of polar bears in the United
States is sustainable.
• Cooperative work with the Alaska Nanuuq
Commission and the North Slope Borough
U.S. Polar Bear Populations
Laws and Agreements
• 1973 International Agreement on the Conservation of
Polar Bears
• U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act
• U.S. Endangered Species Act
• Inuvialuit-Inupiat Agreement
• U.S./Russia Bilateral Agreement
• CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered
Species of Wild Flora and Fauna)
Legal Standing in the U.S.
• Conservation Status:
– Species Listed as Threatened under ESA, 2008
– Considered “depleted” under MMPA, 2008
– Critical Habitat designated 2010; currently under
judicial review
• Current Actions:
– Draft Conservation and Management Plan
– 5-Year Status Review
Polar Bear Harvest Management
• U..S. Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibits
the hunting of polar bears, except by Alaskan
Natives for subsistence and handicraft
purposes and clothing
• Harvest is monitored through a marking,
tagging and reporting program
• Harvest management and monitoring is done
in cooperation with the Alaska Nanuuq
Commission and the North Slope Borough
Alaska Polar Bear Harvest 1961–2014
Sport Hunting
450
400
350
300
250
Marine Mammal
Protection Act
1973 Polar Bear
Agreement
Inupiat / Inuvialuit
Agreement
Reported harvest from
2013: 59 bears
26 from Chukchi Sea
33 from S Beaufort Sea
Numbers from 2014 still
being finalized
Beaufort
200
150
100
50
0
Chukchi
Marking, Tagging, Reporting
• Taggers located in 15 Alaskan
Native villages
• The Alaska Nanuuq
Commission in collaboration
with the State of Alaska and
the USFWS, are reviewing the
current reporting system and
making suggestions for
improvement; workshop will
be held in October
Polar Bear Harvest Management
• Alaska Nanuuq Commission (ANC)
– Mission: to ensure that Alaska Native hunters will continue to
have the opportunity to harvest these resources through
conservation and local civil-based co-management of
subsistence uses of the species, because when we lose the
resources we hunt or the ability to manage our resources, we
also lose our cultures.
Polar Bear Harvest Management
• The Alaska Nanuuq Commission represents the polar
bear hunting communities of Alaska to:
• Encourage and implement self-regulation of polar bear hunting and use
by Alaska Natives;
• Enter into co-management and other local and international
agreements with appropriate governmental, native, or other
organizations;
• Be involved in all phases of scientific , biological, and other research
programs involving polar bears and the Arctic ecosystem;
• Provide information and educational materials to the public,
appropriate state and federal agencies, and other interested parties.
• Designated role in implementation of Bilateral Agreement; US
Commissioner
Polar Bear Harvest Management
• Community engagement to gain support for developing a
management system that is responsive to local and user needs
• Assessing past polar bear harvest reporting
• Key messages from the ANC
– Need for increased understanding of the Arctic and its relationship to
polar bear populations
– Importance of our shared approach and implications of a management
strategy
– Management must be founded in science and funded appropriately
Reducing Human-Bear Conflict
• Goal: Reduce human-polar bear conflicts that arise in
coastal communities and work places such as the oil and
gas fields, military sites, research camps, etc.
• Opportunities for conflicts are likely to increase with
increasing use of coastal habitat by polar bears and people
Reducing Human-Bear Conflict
• Program has 3
Components:
• Minimize Attractants
• Deterrence Program
• Education & Outreach
Courtesy of ACS
Minimizing Attractants
• Prevent access to whale meat
• Guard/patrol; hazing
• Electric fence
Within village:
• Household food lockers
• Ice cellars; freezer vans
• Dumpsters/landfill
North Slope Borough Polar Bear Patrol
Primary Objective:
– Deter bears away from town without endangering the bear or
the public
Components:
• Provide the opportunity for exhausted bears to rest when no
sea ice is around
• Minimize attractants (bear resistant food lockers)
• Develop a deterrence program (training for local villagers)
• Education and Outreach
Education and Outreach
•
•
•
•
Open house
Local meetings
School visits
Posters, kiosk, brochures
Education and Outreach
• Susi to provide slides
• Wales
In July of this year, representatives
from ANC, FWS and WWF visited
Wales to begin a community-run
polar bear patrol
Helping management
partners train
community members
Deterrence Training Manual
Goal is to standardize
methods and training
state-wide
Incidental
Take
Infrequent, unavoidable,
or accidental
Intentional
Take
Planned, purposeful, and
directed (deterrence)
Regulatory Protections
•
•
•
•
Petition for new regulations for Beaufort Sea, 2016
Chukchi Sea exploratory drilling
Oil spill response plan finalized
Oil spill modeling
Courtesy of Dick Shideler, ADFG
Reporting
USFWS research in the Chukchi Sea

USFWS and partners captured, studied,
and released 300 polar bears 2008-2011,
2013, and 2015

Deployed 90 radiocollars and 65
prototype satellite tags

Lines of investigation:

Body condition, reproduction, health and
nutritional ecology

Habitat use and distribution

Population dynamics

Collaborative effort with U.S. Geological
Survey, Alaska Department of Fish and
Game, and many others

Continued work planned for 2016-2019,
including expanded geographic sampling
Locations of captured polar bears on the sea ice of the Chukchi Sea
between the Lisburne and Seward peninsulas.
Research in the Chukchi Sea
Rode et al. 2014. Variation in the response of an
Arctic top predator experiencing habitat loss:
feeding and reproductive ecology of two polar
bear populations. Global Change Biology 20:7688.

Good body condition and reproduction in
2008-2011, compared to contemporary
data in SBS and 1986-1994 data in the CS

Suggests capacity for positive population
growth

Caveats: short study, limited geographic
sampling, may not reflect actual
population growth (e.g., does not consider
human-caused removals)
Rode et al. 2014
Rode et al. 2014
Research in the Chukchi Sea
Wilson et al. 2014
Wilson et al. 2014. Identifying polar bear
resource selection patterns to inform
offshore development in a dynamic and
changing Arctic. Ecosphere 5(10):136.
 Evaluate habitat use in relation to
changing physical (e.g., sea ice) and
ecological factors (e.g., biological
productivity)
 Map seasonal distribution in relation
to human activities such as oil and gas
development in the CS Lease Sale
Area
Population modeling and harvest management
Regehr et al. 2015. Resilience and risk—A
demographic model to inform conservation
planning for polar bears. U.S. Geological survey
Open-File Report 2015-1029, 56 p.

New tool for population viability and risk
analysis

Proposes a state-dependent management
framework that considers habitat change,
density effects, harvest vulnerabilities,
and information quality (better data →
less risk)

Identifies conditions under which harvest
is—and is not—likely to have a negative
effect on persistence for populations
declining due to sea-ice loss
Regehr et al. 2015
Other initiatives and collaborations
 Chukchi Sea

Voorhees, H et al. 2014. Traditional Knowledge
about Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus) in
Northwestern Alaska. Arctic 67(4):523-536.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric aerial surveys
for ringed seals, bearded seals, and polar bears
(planned for 2016)

North Slope Borough and Alaska Department of
Fish and Game non-invasive genetic sampling
pilot study (planned for 2016)
Other initiatives and collaborations
 Southern Beaufort Sea

Miller et al. In Press. Polar bear-grizzly bear
interactions during the autumn open water period
in Alaska. Journal of Mammalogy.

Coastal aerial surveys during the ice-retreat
season 2000-2014 to evaluate polar bear
abundance, distribution, and timing of land use
(publication planned 2016)
 Improved design and analysis of polar
bear population studies

Identified as global priority (Vongraven et al.
2012)

Collaborators include USFWS, U.S. Geological
Survey, Environment Canada, others

Funded in 2015; publication planned 2017-2018
Partners, collaborators, and supporters

U.S. Geological Survey

Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Alaska Nanuuq Commission

North Slope Borough

Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management

National Park Service

Bureau of Land Management

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

Teck Inc.

Department of Defense

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Environment Canada

Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment

Marine Mammal Council and CHAZTO (Russia)

Academic institutions (WSU, University of Washington, York,
Dalhousie)

Industry (Shell, British Petroleum, Conoco Phillips)

Zoos (Alaska, Oregon)

Nongovernmental organizations (WWF, Defenders of Wildlife,
Polar Bears International)
CITES and Polar Bears
 U.S. considering CITES Appendix I for CoP17
 U.S. concerned commercial international trade
impacts long-term survival of the species and
compounds the threat posed by the loss of sea ice
 CITES does not address climate change; but is an
additional tool
 U.S. wanted to raise concerns with range states at
this meeting
 We will consult and seek updated information before
final decision
Drawings: www.cites.org & www.pinterest.com
Statement by Charles Brower, Chair of the ANC