From
http://www.savethisnation.org/polarbears.htm
(snip) The main threat to polar bears in recent decades has been from hunting, with estimates as low as 5,000 to 10,000 bears in the 1950s and 1960s. But thanks to conservation efforts, and some cross-border cooperation among the U.S., Canada and Russia, the best estimate today is that the polar bear population is 20,000 to 25,000.
It also turns out that most of the alarm over the polar bear's future stems from a single, peer-reviewed study, which found that the bear population had declined by some 250, or 25%, in Western Hudson Bay in the last decade. But the polar bear's range is far more extensive than Hudson Bay. A 2002 U.S. Geological Survey of wildlife in the Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain concluded that the ice bear populations "may now be near historic highs." One of the leading experts on the polar bear, Mitchell Taylor, the manager of wildlife resources for the Nunavut territory in Canada, has found that the Canadian polar bear population has actually increased by 25% -- to 15,000 from 12,000 over the past decade.
Current Trends of the World’s 19 Subpopulations in 2009
Declining................Stable....................Increasing................Data deficient
Baffin Bay...............N. Beaufort Sea.........M’Clintock Channel....Arctic Basin
S. Beaufort Sea........Gulf of Boothia......................................Barents Sea
Chukchi Sea.............S. Hudson Bay.......................................East Greenland
Davis Strait......................................................................Foxe Basin
W. Hudson Bay..................................................................Laptev Sea
Kane Basin.......................................................................Kara Sea
Norwegian Bay..................................................................Viscount Melville
Lancaster Sound
Of those 8 declining regions:
Baffin Bay is estimating declining by birth/death simulation and due to hunting
S. Beaufort Sea Decline suggested by Estimated birth and death rate
Chukchi Sea Decline could be due to ice loss but illegal hunting is happening
Davis straight suggested decline but unspecified cause
W Hudson Bay Study indicates near 25% population loss from early ice break-up
Lancaster sound Declining due to Hunting Male Bears
Kane Basin decline due to hunting
Norwegian Bay Population is Thought to be declining but cause is unstated
4 (50%) are from hunting (Baffin Bay, Chukchi Sea, Lancaster Sound, & Kane Basin)
2 (25%) are from an unspecified cause (Davis Straight & Norwegian Bay)
1 (12.5%) The decline is suggested by Estimated birth/death rates (S Beaufort Sea)(ice loss is indicated)
1 (12.5%) (W Hudson Bay) The only peer reviewed study indicating a decline of 250 Bears due to Early Ice Break-up
Of the 19 populations,
The study of a single population indicates that the early ice break-up in that area led to the death of 250 bears. Hunting is responsible for the declining populations in 4 times the areas of ice loss in the study area which also covers approx 4 times the physical area.%5.25
1 area is a suggested decline due to estimated birth/death rates with ice loss indicated%5.25
2 are from an unspecified cause % 10.5
4 are from hunting %21
7 have no data for population or status %36
4 are stable or increasing %21
Hmmm...
