the river and placed in semi-captive breeding reserves to 

 protect them and to ensure the continuation of a viable gene 

 pool; proposed sites for reserves at Shishou and Tongling 

 should be evaluated and facility construction should be begun 

 immediately if the sites are suitable; and further studies 

 should be conducted to better determine the status, habitat 

 reguirements, critical habitats, and basic biology of the 

 species . 



The contractor was invited to return to China to assist 

 scientists from the Institute of Hydrobiology , Wuhan, China, 

 in developing and implementing a program to better determine 

 the biology and ecology of, and threats to, the species. As 

 described in Chapter XI, the Commission provided funds to 

 help cover travel and related expenses for this endeavor. 

 Additional funding was provided by the World Wildlife Fund, 

 Gland, Switzerland. 



The contractor and several associates plan to travel to 

 Wuhan in spring 1989 to initiate the cooperative studies. 

 The report of the initial cooperative effort and other relevant 

 information will be reviewed by the Commission, in consultation 

 with its Committee of Scientific Advisors, to determine what 

 more the United States might do to encourage protection and 

 recovery of the baiji and other endangered river dolphins. 



Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) 



Polar bears have a circumpolar distribution around the 

 rim of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent ice-covered seas. Pregnant 

 polar bears spend from late November through late March or 

 early April in dens which they excavate in snow banks on 

 shore, on shorefast ice, on pack ice, or on drifting sea ice. 

 They generally give birth to cubs in late December or early 

 January and leave the dens with their cubs between late February 

 and early April, depending on latitude. 



Available information suggests that there may be two 

 relatively discrete polar bear populations along the northern 

 Alaska coast. One ranges approximately from Icy Cape in 

 Alaska into the western Canadian Arctic, and one ranges fLom 

 west of Icy Cape into the eastern Soviet Arctic. The principal 

 threats to these and other polar bear populations are hunting 

 and oil and gas development. 



International Agreement on Conservation of Polar Bears 



Throughout the 1940s, most hunting of polar bears was 

 done by Natives with dog teams. By the 1960s, other hunting 

 methods had evolved, and more bears were being killed. Also, 

 interest in assessing and developing Arctic oil and gas 



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