Polar Bear Pact Protects U.S. and Russian Bears
© Environment News Service (ENS) 2000
October 16, 2000
By Cat Lazaroff
WASHINGTON, DC, October 16, 2000 (ENS) - Some of the Arctic’s most imperiled populations of polar bears won new protections today when the United States and Russia signed a historic accord to conserve the bears. The long term agreement governs the harvest of bears and the protection of their habitat along the Chukchi and Bering Seas.
The pact bans hunting of polar bears by anyone but authorized native populations, and calls for the active involvement of native people and their organizations.
The agreement for the Conservation and Management of the Alaska-Chukotka Polar Bear Population was signed for the United States by David Sandalow, assistant secretary of state, Bureau of Oceans, International Environmental and Science Affairs, and Yuriy Ushakov, Russian ambassador to the United States.
At the signing ceremony today in Washington, DC, the signatories emphasized that the accord will provide for long term joint programs such as conservation of ecosystems and important habitats, harvest allocations based on sustainability, collection of biological information, and increased partnerships with state, local and private interests.
Until now, the U.S. and Russia have managed the shared Alaska-Chukotka polar bear population independently. In recent years an illegal and unknown amount of harvest has occurred in Russia, in spite of a ban on hunting since 1956.
In Alaska, subsistence hunting by native people is allowed so long as the polar bear population is not depleted.
The Russian government has enacted legislation which would enable a sustainable harvest by Chukotka Natives and give this agreement the force of law in Russia. Each country has the right to one half of the annual harvest limit.
The accord forbids the killing of females with cubs, cubs less than one year old, or denning bears.
It also prohibits the use of aircraft and large motorized vessels and vehicles to take polar bears, and it focuses on conserving specific polar bear habitats such as feeding, congregating and denning areas.
"We've worked with our Russian counterparts and the native people from both countries for more than eight years to develop this very important Agreement," said David Allen, Alaska regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
"This agreement is a major milestone for the conservation of the Alaska-Chukotka polar bear population. It provides for the long-term unified joint research and management programs involving polar bears and their habitats," Allen said.
Over the past several years, the USFWS, along with a working group of native representatives, environmental groups and local lawmakers, met with Russian officials and Alaska and Chukotka natives to develop a conservation agreement for polar bears. These negotiations resulted in today's agreement.
The U.S. State Department will now submit the final agreement to the U.S. Senate for ratification. The Senate must also enact legislation to augment the Marine Mammal Protection Act to protect the bears.
Polar bears live in sea ice habitat considered to be the harshest and most remote anywhere on earth. They typically occur in low densities over vast areas of the Arctic. About 22,000 to 28,000 polar bears exist worldwide.
Two populations occur in Alaska: the southern Beaufort Sea group which is shared with Canada, and the Alaska-Chukotka population which is shared with Russia.
Polar bears and polar bear hunting are important to the cultures of native people and their traditional way of life. Modern technology, global pollution and cultural and economic changes have all influenced the balance between humans and polar bears. Illegal hunting, habitat loss, pollution and global warming pose the most serious threats to polar bears.
The area covered by the agreement includes Wrangel and Herald Islands - the most important onshore denning habitat for polar bears in the circumpolar Arctic. These two rugged and remote islands harbor 80 percent of the breeding female polar bears in the Chukchi and Bering Seas.
"Polar bears face a very uncertain future due to the impact on their environment of climate change, toxic contamination, poaching, oil spills and the disruption of their food chain caused by overfishing," said Dave Cline, director of the World Wildlife Fund’s Alaska office and a member of the U.S. delegation that negotiated the agreement.
"This agreement, which for the first time restricts hunting and lays the foundation for a system to sustainably manage polar bear populations, is a critical first step in the right direction."
The agreement will be administered by a four member Joint Commission, including a government official and a native official from each country. The Commission may form a scientific advisory group to provide advice and expertise.