resources was increasing. Such hunting and other human 

 activities threatened the viability of polar bear populations 

 throughout their range and, in November 1973, the Governments 

 of the United States, Canada, Denmark (for Greenland) , Norway, 

 and the Soviet Union concluded an Agreement on the Conservation 

 of Polar Bears. This Agreement, which entered into force in 

 1976, prohibits the hunting, killing, and capturing of polar 

 bears except for certain specified purposes; prohibits the 

 use of aircraft and large motorized vessels for hunting polar 

 bears; and requires each Contracting Party to protect the 

 ecosystems of which polar bears are a part, particularly 

 polar bear denning and feeding sites. The Agreement also 

 requires that the Contracting Parties conduct and coordinate 

 research programs, consult each other on the management of 

 shared polar bear populations, and exchange information on 

 research and management programs, research results and data 

 on bears taken. 



Native Agreement on Polar Bears in the Southern Beaufort Sea 



As noted above, available information indicates that the 

 population of polar bears which occupies the southern Beaufort 

 Sea from about Icy Cape in Alaska to the Baillie Islands in 

 the Northwest Territories of Canada is a discrete population 

 shared by the United States and Canada. Effective conservation 

 of this population will require coordinated regulation of 

 subsistence hunting and other activities that might affect 

 the population. Recognizing this, representatives of the 

 Native user groups in Canada and the United States — the 

 North Slope Borough Fish and Game Management Committee in the 

 United States and the Inuvialuit Game Council in Canada — 

 concluded an agreement in January 1988 to cooperatively regulate 

 the hunting of polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea from 

 the Baillie Islands in Canada west to Icy Cape. Among other 

 things, this Agreement provides protection for females with 

 cubs and all bears in dens or constructing dens. It also 

 provides that catch quotas be established annually, based 

 upon the best available scientific evidence, that the quota 

 be allocated equitably between Alaska and Canadian Natives, 

 and that data on the number, locations, age and sex of bears 

 killed be collected and shared. 



Regulations Governing the Marking, Tagging, and Reporting of 

 Polar Bears and Other Marine Mammals Taken by Alaskan Natives 



The Marine Mammal Protection Act provides that coastal- 

 dwelling Alaska Natives can take polar bears and other marine 

 mammals for subsistence purposes or for purposes of creating 

 and selling authentic Native articles of handicrafts and 

 clothing if such taking is done in a non-wasteful manner. 

 Reliable information on the number, species, age, sex, and other 

 characteristics of the animals taken, among other things, is 



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