Polar Bear

What We Do

The primary objective of the polar bear program is to ensure that polar bear populations in Alaska remain a healthy, functioning component of the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas ecosystems. Management responsibilities are described in the Conservation Plan for Polar Bears in Alaska (pdf, 366K).

We monitor polar bear population distribution, abundance, status, and trends through use of aerial surveys and activities conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey’s polar bear research program. We monitor harvest of polar bears for subsistence use by Alaska Natives. We study polar bear feeding ecology by observing polar bears concentrated near bowhead whale carcasses along the Beaufort Sea coastline. We work cooperatively with the Alaska Nanuuq Commission and the North Slope Borough for co-management of polar bears in Alaska. We are working to implement the terms of the recently signed U.S.-Russia Bilateral Agreement for the Conservation of Polar Bears. We provide technical assistance to the participants of the 1988 North Slope Borough/Inuvialuit Game Council Agreement for the conservation of polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea region. We monitor the effects of incidental (unintentional) take of polar bears from oil and gas operations in the Beaufort Sea region.

Last updated: September 10, 2008