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

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Beaufort

Chukchi

Reported harvest from 2013: 59 bears

26 from Chukchi Sea33 from S Beaufort Sea

Numbers from 2014 still being finalized

Marine Mammal

Protection Act

Inupiat / Inuvialuit

Agreement

Sport Hunting

Alaska Polar Bear Harvest 1961–2014

1973 Polar Bear

Agreement

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 PatrolPrimary 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

Helping management partners train

community members

In July of this year, representatives

from ANC, FWS and WWF visited

Wales to begin a community-run

polar bear patrol

Deterrence Training Manual

Goal is to standardize methods and training

state-wide

Intentional Take

Incidental Take

Infrequent, unavoidable,

or accidental

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

Locations of captured polar bears on the sea ice of the Chukchi Sea between the Lisburne and Seward peninsulas.

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

Rode et al. 2014

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. Variation in the response of an Arctic top predator experiencing habitat loss: feeding and reproductive ecology of two polar bear populations. Global Change Biology 20:76-88.

Research in the Chukchi Sea

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

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.

Research in the Chukchi Sea

Population modeling and harvest management

Regehr et al. 2015

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. Resilience and risk—A demographic model to inform conservation planning for polar bears. U.S. Geological survey Open-File Report 2015-1029, 56 p.

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

Other initiatives and collaborations

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)

Partners, collaborators, and supporters

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