Backgrounder

Conservation of Polar Bears in Canada

Polar Bears are found in Russia, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, the United States (Alaska) and Canada. Canada is home to approximately 15 500 of the estimated 20 000 to 25 000 Polar Bears in global polar regions.

Canadian Polar Bear populations are managed by the provinces, territories and wildlife management boards where the populations live. Research is primarily conducted by government agencies and universities, including the Government of Canada.

Environment Canada plays a key role by providing scientific expertise on Polar Bears, and by working collaboratively with other jurisdictions on national and international committees to ensure that populations are managed sustainably.

Canadian Populations

In 2008, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assessed the Polar Bear as a single overall population in accordance with established criteria. In its report, COSEWIC also reported trends by subpopulation. Population models project that 4 of 13 subpopulations (27% of Canada's 15 500 polar bears) have a high risk of declining by 30% or more over the next three bear generations (36 years). Declines are partly attributed to climate change for western Hudson Bay (Nunavut and Manitoba) and the southern Beaufort Sea (Northwest Territories), but are mostly due to unsustainable harvesting in Kane Basin and Baffin Bay (Nunavut). Seven subpopulations (43% of the total population) are projected to be stable or increasing. Trends currently cannot be projected for two subpopulations (Davis Strait, Foxe Basin - Nunavut - 29% of the total population). 

For most subpopulations, population counts over time suggest a slight increase in the last 10-25 years. At the same time, bears in some subpopulations show declining health and changes in habitat location linked to decreased sea ice. The Polar Bear cannot persist without seasonal sea ice.

Research

Cooperative research is often undertaken where the project is of interest to several jurisdictions, including the United States (Alaska), Denmark (Greenland), and Norway. Some research projects conducted by university researchers are coordinated with government scientists. Other projects are supported by funds from wildlife management boards established by the land claims process, by independent foundations, and through grants to graduate students who are co-supervised by government and university researchers.

Management

Management of Canadian Polar Bear populations is the responsibility of the provinces and territories as well as wildlife management boards in regions in which these populations are found, including Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, and of co-management boards / resource user groups, which are the main organizations for wildlife management in many northern areas.

The overall management framework for ensuring the sustainability of Polar Bear populations in Canada includes the legislation, research and management programs
of each of these jurisdictions, along with the national Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk, the Species at Risk Act, and the Canadian Polar Bear Technical
and Administrative Committees.

In Canada the hunting of Polar Bears is restricted to Aboriginal people or sport hunters guided by Aboriginal people who harvest by traditional means and in accordance with sound conservation practices based on the best available scientific data.

The management of the harvest in Canada is consistent with the 1973 International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears. Responsible jurisdictions manage the Polar Bear harvest to ensure the sustainability of Polar Bear populations.

Quotas are set that take into account recommendations from federal, provincial and territorial scientists, and university specialists as well as United States researchers based in Alaska. Quotas take into account the problem of nuisance Polar Bears that must be dispatched in the interest of public safety, as well as bears hunted by tourists. Quotas are met with an exceptionally high level of compliance.

Some examples of Environment Canada's involvement in Polar Bear management include:

• working with the United States to conserve shared Polar Bear populations such as the southern Beaufort Sea subpopulation;
• working with the Government of Nunavut and with Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada to develop an agreement with Greenland on the management of shared populations of Polar Bears;
• establishing protected areas for wildlife species, in cooperation with territorial and provincial governments and wildlife management boards in the territories. For example, across the North, there are National Parks, National Wildlife Areas, Migratory Bird Sanctuaries, and provincial and territorial parks that protect some terrestrial habitat;
• regulating the import and export of live Polar Bears and Polar Bear hides and trophies; 
• participating on the national Polar Bear Administrative Committee, which takes the technical advice of the Polar Bear Technical Committee and makes coordinated decisions on the management of Polar Bears in Canada, and ensures that Canada fulfills its obligations as party to the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears (1973); and
• administering Canada's Species at Risk Act to prevent wildlife from becoming extinct in Canada.