Chapter VI — The Arctic 



The Beaufort Sea polar bear population is hunted 

 by Natives from northwestern Canada as well as 

 Alaska. If not regulated effectively, such hunting, by 

 itself and in combination with other activities, could 

 cause the population to decline below its optimum 

 sustainable population level. Recognizing this, the 

 Fish and Game Management Committee of Alaska's 

 North Slope Borough and the Inuvialuit Game Council 

 of Canada's Northwest Territories entered into an 

 agreement in January 1988 to govern cooperatively 

 the hunting of polar bears in the area between Icy 

 Cape, Alaska, and the Baillie Islands, Canada. 



Among other things, the agreement calls for 

 protection of cubs, females with cubs, and all bears 

 inhabiting or constructing dens. It also prohibits 

 hunting at certain times of the year and provides that 

 a harvest quota, based on the best available scientific 

 evidence, be established annually. Quotas are allocat- 

 ed equitably between Natives in Alaska and Canada, 

 and data are collected and shared on the number, 

 location, age, and sex of bears killed. Although the 

 agreement is not legally binding, both Alaska and 

 Canadian Natives have complied with the mutually 

 agreed conservation measures. The agreement does 

 not apply to Native subsistence hunting of polar bears 

 in Alaska south and west of Icy Cape. Polar bears in 

 this area are part of the population shared with 

 Russia, and efforts are underway, as described below, 

 to conclude agreements for the cooperative manage- 

 ment of this population as well. 



U.S.-Russian Polar Bear Agreement — As noted 

 earlier, a relatively discrete polar bear population, the 

 western or Bering-Chukchi Seas population, occurs 

 partially in Alaska and has traditionally been used by 

 Native peoples of both Alaska and Chukotka, Russia. 

 In its 28 June 1992 letter forwarding the draft polar 

 bear conservation plan to the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, the Commission identified the possible need 

 for a cooperative U.S.-Russian program to manage the 

 take of polar bears from the Bering-Chukchi Seas 

 population. On 22 October 1992 the Fish and Wild- 

 life Service's Alaska Regional Director signed a 

 protocol with the Russian Ministry of Ecology and 

 Natural Resources stating the parties' intentions to 

 conclude an agreement on the conservation and 

 regulated use of polar bears from the Bering-Chukchi 

 Seas population common to the two nations. 



As discussed in the previous annual report, the 

 protocol called on both Governments to create special 

 working groups composed of representatives of 

 government agencies and Native peoples to prepare 

 proposals for such an agreement and to convene a 

 meeting of the working groups in Russia to prepare a 

 draft agreement. 



During informal discussions between the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service and Alaska Native groups relative to 

 development of the Service's draft conservation plan 

 for polar bears, consideration was given to forming an 

 Alaska polar bear commission similar to the Alaska 

 Eskimo Walrus Commission and the Alaska Sea Otter 

 Commission. This idea, one which has been support- 

 ed by the Marine Mammal Commission, was subse- 

 quently considered and positively received at a meet- 

 ing between Native hunters and Service representa- 

 tives on 22 June 1993. 



On 9-10 November 1993 representatives of the 

 Service's Alaska Regional Office met with representa- 

 tives of the Alaska Native community to discuss the 

 proposed conservation agreement with Russia. At that 

 meeting, it was recognized that formation of an 

 Alaska Native polar bear commission was needed to 

 represent the interests of Alaska Natives effectively in 

 matters affecting the conservation of polar bears. It 

 was agreed that, in order to stimulate Russian Native 

 interest in the process of negotiating a polar bear 

 conservation agreement, it would be useful to hold a 

 meeting involving Natives of both countries prior to 

 the first meeting of U.S. and Russian delegations, as 

 called for in the protocol. 



On 16-17 June 1994 the Alaska Nanuuq Commis- 

 sion was formed to represent polar bear hunters in 20 

 Alaska communities. The broad mission defined by 

 the Commission's bylaws is to encourage and imple- 

 ment self-regulation of harvest and use of polar bears. 



On 28 July 1994 the Fish and Wildlife Service 

 provided the Commission and others with a draft 

 management agreement for polar bears shared with 

 Russia (formally titled the Draft Agreement on the 

 Management of the Chukotka-Alaska Polar Bear 

 Population between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- 

 vice and the Russian Federation Ministry of Ecology 

 and Natural Resources) and a draft of the Native-to- 



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