Research and management of polar bearsUrsus maritimus

Abstract

AbstractThrough the 1950s and 1960s there was a marked increase in recorded numbers of polar bears being killed for their hides, giving rise to world-wide concern that the species might be endangered. At a meeting in Fairbanks, Alaska 1965, representatives of circumpolar arctic nations discussed conservation of polar bears and concluded that international coordination of research and management efforts was essential. Subsequent meetings of scientists engaged in polar bear research were organized every two years by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, facilitating exchanges of views and cooperation; as a result, in 1973 the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears and their Habitats was signed in Oslo, Norway. This paper describes some of the research and management undertaken in the years leading up to the agreement, and initiatives that are continuing because of it.