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U.S., Russia Collaborate To Save Polar Bears

By Domick DiPasquale

Long a symbol of the Earth's frozen north, the polar bear now has become an icon for the serious threat global warming poses to its home on the Arctic icecap.

With the long-term survival of the species in the wild imperiled by the shrinking Arctic ice it uses as a hunting platform, the United States and Russia are working together to protect the polar bear, now estimated to number 20,000 to 25,000 worldwide.

The two nations have officially collaborated on a broad range of wildlife conservation efforts in the Arctic region and elsewhere since signing an agreement on environmental cooperation in 1972. More than half the activity carried out under that agreement has involved the U.S. state of Alaska, Siberia, and the Russian Far East. (See "United States, Russia Join in Efforts to Protect Arctic Wildlife ( http://www.america.gov/st/env-english/2008/August/20080828170741hmnietsua0.9372827.html&distid=ucs ).")

Alaska has two distinct populations of polar bears that range across international boundaries. The Southern Beaufort Sea population, whose territory includes the United States and Canada, numbers approximately 1,500 bears; the Alaska-Chukotka population, shared by Russia and the United States, numbers no more than 2,000.

In 1995, a working group composed of several U.S. entities, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, began meeting with their Russian counterparts to develop a conservation agreement on their shared polar bear population. That pact was signed by the two nations in 2000 and, after approval by the U.S. Congress, took effect on September 23, 2007.

The agreement unifies conservation and management programs for the Alaska-Chukotka polar bear population, calls for active involvement of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic in such efforts, and provides long-term joint programs such as habitat conservation and collection of biological information. It also 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.

A representative from each government and their indigenous peoples will form a joint commission that will make decisions on managing the polar bear population, including sustainable harvest quotas by native tribes who engage in subsistence hunting.

Steven Kohl, chief of the Fish and Wildlife Service's Russia-East Asia branch, said one of the first steps the joint commission likely will take will be establishing a scientific group to determine how many polar bears the indigenous peoples of both nations can hunt annually. That decision will be based on biological standards for sustainable harvests.

Kohl said the United States currently allows such subsistence hunting, with about 100 polar bears taken annually. Russia has not permitted such indigenous hunting of polar bears since 1956, but as Kohl noted, illegal poaching on its territory is estimated to kill as many as 200 to 400 bears yearly.

BILATERAL COOPERATION PRECEDED FORMAL AGREEMENT

Even before the formation of the joint commission called for by the Alaska-Chukotka agreement, the Fish and Wildlife Service has amassed a long record of cooperation with its Russian partners in polar bear conservation efforts.

U.S. biologists, for example, have worked with their Russian counterparts to conduct field surveys on the Chukotka Peninsula, which is the easternmost point of Russia, to identify critical habitat used by polar bears for denning and feeding.

Some projects are modest in scale, such as U.S. funding of an electric generator and boat motors to widen the range of patrols that protect polar bear habitats on Russia's Wrangel Island Nature Reserve. Others are high-tech, such as placing collars on polar bears that allow biologists to track the bears' movements by satellite and identify their breeding locations.

The United States also has taken unilateral action to protect its polar bears. In May 2008, the U.S. Department of the Interior placed the polar bear on its list of threatened species. That decision, among other protections, prohibits U.S. hunters from importing polar bear hides or other trophies from Canada, where sport hunting is allowed. (See "Polar Bears to Be Listed as "Threatened," Interior Secretary Says ( http://www.america.gov/st/env-english/2008/May/20080516174224mlenuhret0.3490869.html?CP.rss=true ).")

From the legends of the native Inuit peoples of the far north to the media frenzy surrounding the Berlin Zoo's polar bear cub Knut to the mysterious presence of this Arctic animal on the tropical island setting of the hit U.S. television series Lost, the polar bear has always captured the public imagination. If it is to continue to do so, and to continue living in the wild, international cooperation such as that typified by the United States and Russia is crucial to ensuring the species' ongoing survival in its polar habitat.

Source: U.S. Department of State