A new cooperative effort between Greenland and Canada will create a polar bear commission to protect these endangered animals in both countries. The commission will first determine a total hunting allowance for the polar bears and then determine how this quota, referred to as the “allowable harvest”, will be allocated between the two regions and peoples.

The areas affected by these hunting quotas are primarily the Baffin Bay and the Kane Basin, territories located northwest of the Nunavut Province near the Baffin Sea. These are regions through which two of Canada’s thirteen different populations of polar bears roam, and which are shared – and hunted – by both countries.

Since the ban went into effect in 1973, no one except indigenous Artic peoples have been allowed to hunt polar bears, and this will not change. However, biologists in recent years have told these countries that these animals could not sustain an adequate population with the current combined Baffin Bay and Kane Basin hunting numbers by people from both these countries. The Inuit hunters have argued that they believe the number of bears has actually been increasing in recent years, at least in the area of the Baffin Bay.

The committee, which will include members of Inuit tribes, will be organizing scientific research which utilizes traditional knowledge of polar bears and the area, as well as outreach activities. The studies that result from committee decisions should give a clearer picture of the bear population and a better understanding of the animals.

Two polar bears feasting after a successful hunt