Chapter II — Species of Special Concern 



General winter range 

 southern boundry 



"^^^^ Bering Sea 



Figure 10. Ranges of the Beaufort Sea stock and Bering-Chukchi Seas stock of polar bears. 



Also in 1972, enactment of the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act established a moratorium on the take of 

 polar bears and other marine mammals and transferred 

 management responsibility from the states to the 

 federal government. Under the Act, Alaska Natives 

 are allowed to take polar bears and other marine 

 mammals for subsistence purposes and for purposes of 

 creating and selling traditional handicrafts and cloth- 

 ing. The Act does not restrict the number of animals 

 that can be taken or prohibit the take of cubs or 

 females with cubs by Alaska Natives, provided that 

 the take is not wasteful and the population is not 

 determined to be depleted. 



The Act also provides other exceptions to its taking 

 prohibition, including a general waiver provision. 

 Although it is possible that sport hunters could seek a 

 waiver of the moratorium for polar bears in Alaska, 

 they have not done so. The taking of small numbers 

 of polar bears incidental to oil- and gas-related activi- 



ties in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas is discussed in 

 Chapter IX. 



Because the ranges of many polar bear populations 

 cross national boundaries, efforts to protect and 

 conserve polar bears require cooperation among the 

 various nations. Concern over the dramatic increase 

 in the polar bear harvest levels in the 1950s and 1960s 

 led to negotiation of the international Agreement on 

 the Conservation of Polar Bears. The agreement was 

 concluded in 1973 by the governments of Canada, 

 Denmark (for Greenland), Norway, the Soviet Union, 

 and the United States. 



In 1994 Congress amended the Marine Mammal 

 Protection Act, adding a number of measures related 

 to polar bears. Among these was a provision allowing 

 the issuance of permits to import sport-hunted polar 

 bear trophies legally taken by U.S. citizens in Canada. 

 Efforts by the Fish and Wildlife Service to promulgate 

 regulations allowing imports from certain populations 



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