[Another example of AGW politics at odds with science.
Canada does not consider polar bears threatened, however they are a threat
to people.
Populations are not in decline, and they survived past ice-free periods
just fine]
Last Updated: Thursday, May 15, 2008 | 10:42 AM CT
CBC News http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2008/05/15/bear-reax.html
Condemnation came swiftly from Canada's North to Wednesday's decision by
the U.S. government to
list polar bears as a threatened species, as Inuit groups and northern
politicians denounced the
bears' new status.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne made the announcement in
Wa****ngton on Wednesday,
saying the decision was based on findings that bears' Arctic sea ice
habitat has dramatically
melted in recent decades.
While environmental activists applauded the move, people in Nunavut and
the Northwest Territories
say it runs contrary to observations by Inuit that polar bear populations
are on the rise in some
areas.
The decision will also effectively kill the American s****t hunt that
brings more than $3 million a
year to the Canadian Arctic.
"Obviously, we're very disappointed with the decision," Paul Irngaut, a
wildlife communications
adviser with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., said Wednesday.
"We feel that it's going to affect a lot of the Inuit up here who rely on
the s****t hunt,
especially from the American s****t hunters."
The Nunavut land-claims organization was one of several groups - including
the Nunavut government,
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Inuit Cir***polar Conference - that sent
out statements criticizing
Kempthorne's decision as soon as it was announced.
By listing the polar bears as a threatened species under the U.S.
Endangered Species Act, all U.S.
federal agencies will have to ensure nothing they do would jeopardize the
bears' survival or their
sea ice habitat.
It would also ban American s****t hunters from bringing home polar bear
hides as trophies from hunts
in the Canadian North. Americans spend about $30,000 to $35,000 to hunt a
bear.
Irngaut and others, like Grise Fiord resident Larry Audlaluk, said a ban
would spell bad news for
some Nunavut communities that rely on the s****t hunt for income.
"There are many polar bears, so I think the Americans have no right really
to decide on an animal
like that," said Audlaluk, a former hunting guide in the small Ellesmere
Island community.
While the U.S. government says it does not oppose a subsistence hunt,
Audlaluk said he's worried
that listing polar bears as a threatened species across the Arctic will
create a negative public
perception of polar bear hunting in general.
Nunavut blames 'misinformed public opinion'
In a news release, the Nunavut government said the U.S. decision is based
on "misinformed public
opinion which disregarded sound science and Inuit traditional knowledge."
"Our scientists in the field as well as Inuit elders have observed an
overall increase in the polar
bear population," Premier Paul Okalik said in the release.
"It is unfortunate the [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service] has decided to
disregard facts collected by
those who have the greatest contact and longest history with polar bears.
The truth is that polar
bear populations are at near record levels."
It's estimated that there are about 25,000 polar bears in the world, about
15,000 of which are
managed or co-managed by people in Nunavut.
The closure of the U.S. market to polar bear products will have no effect
on polar bear hunting
quotas set in Nunavut, the government said in the release.
N.W.T. minister predicts 'chilling effect'
Making the polar bear a threatened species would also affect some remote
Northwest Territories
communities, which earn about $700,000 a year from the polar bear s****t
hunt.
"Clearly there's going to be an impact on especially the s****ts hunting -
I would suggest a
chilling effect," said Michael Miltenberger, the territory's environment
and natural resources
minister.
Miltenberger said the U.S. decision is just another example of people
outside the North making
decisions about the North.
For now, he said his government is looking for ways to allow American
hunters to continue bringing
their trophy hides home.
Polar bears have been a species "of special concern" in Canada since 1991
- one step below
"threatened" and two steps down from "endangered."
Last month, the scientific committee that evaluates species at risk
recommended that the federal
government retain the "special concern" designation for the polar bear,
saying some bear
populations have declining numbers while others have stable or even rising
numbers.
Ian Stirling, a biologist with Environment Canada, told CBC News that not
all polar bear
populations should be listed as threatened, as the U.S. decision has done.
"I think it makes a lot more sense to consider groups of populations that
are being similarly
affected, and that are at a similar stage, then doing a 'one size fits
all,' but that wasn't what
they did," he said.
Environment Minister John Baird said the "special concern" designation
will stay for polar bears,
but added he would consider more "aggressive action" on certain bear
populations that are seeing
declining numbers.
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