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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Responsible for harvest management, and works cooperatively with Alaska Native user groups to cooperatively address harvest issues under existing user group agreements. -
The Soviet Union banned all harvest of polar bears
however poaching continued and is believed to pose a serious threat to the polar bear population. -
Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972
Prohibits with certain exceptions the "take" of marine mammals in U.S. waters and by U.S. citizens on the high seas, and the importation of marine mammals and marine mammal products into the U.S. Placed because sport hunting for polar bears was thought to be the primary reason for the decline in the Alaska populations prior to 1972. -
International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears
Signed in Oslo by the five nations with the largest polar bear populations including Canada, Denmark, Greenland, Norway, the United States, and the former U.S.S.R. This legislation was brought about due to increased hunting of polar bears during the 1960s and 1970s which led to polar bears being under severe survival pressure from hunters. -
Wrangel Island Nature Reserve
Wrangel Island designated a federally protected Nature Reserve by Decree 189 of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Federal government to protect the islands’ unique natural systems, especially the colonies of snow geese, polar bears and walrus. -
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITIES)
An international agreement between governments. Aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. The polar bear is listed in Appendix II: includes species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but in which trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival. -
Inupiat-Inuvialuit (I-I) conservation agreement
This agreement establishes sustainable harvest limits and allocates quotas (which are reviewed annually) between the jurisdictions. -
U.S. and Russia signed a bilateral agreement
Stresses that the United States and the Russian Federation have a mutual interest in and responsibility for the conservation of the Alaska-Chukotka polar bear population. -
Government of Nunavut, Canada increased the quota
Increased it from 400 to 518 bears, despite protests from some scientific groups. -
Protection and Hunting of Polar Bears in Greenland
Government introduced quotas. The quotas for polar bear are mandatory, and are enforced by a double-reporting system. This includes the license system end the annual catch rapport. The hunter must obtain a licence issued from the local authorities before the hunt, and immediately after the hunt, the hunter must report the catch to the local authority by filling in a standardized form. -
Greenland imposed a limit
A limit of 150 polar bear hunts. -
Russian government imposed subsistence hunting legal
Subsistence hunting legal was for Chukotka natives only. -
Polar Bear Protection Act
Prohibit the import of trophy-hunted Canadian polar bears into the U.S., closing an important loophole to protect shrinking populations in Canada. -
conservation and management of the Alaska-Chukotka polar bear population
Conservation and management of the Alaska-Chukotka polar bear population. -
Conservation Agreement
Signed U.S. entities and their Russian counterparts sharing the polar bear population. Agreement unifies conservation and management programs for the Alaska-Chukotka polar bear population, calls for active involvement of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic, provides long-term joint programs, prohibits the hunting of females with cubs and of cubs less than 1 year old, and emphasizes the conservation of habitats where polar bears feed, congregate and den. -
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) report
The global population of polar bears is 20,000 to 25,000, and is declining. -
U.S. listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act
Banned all importing of polar bear trophies. -
Environment Canada
Banned the export from Canada of fur, claws, skulls and other products from polar bears harvested in Baffin Bay -
Polar bears may become extinct
A recent report done by the U.S. Geological Survey projected that two thirds of the total Polar Bear population world wide, including Alaskan Polar Bears, could vanish by the year 2050. This was said to be a conserative estimate, considering the drop in birth figures and overall decline in the Western Hudson Bay, and Southern Beaufort Sea.