Ottawa wants polar bear added to SARA list

Ottawa has moved closer to adding the polar bear to its list of species of special concern. The proposal to list polar bears — of which about 15,000 live in Canada— was announced on July 2, and interested parties now have 30 days to comment. The Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, the Nunavik Marine Regional Wildlife Board and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. have previously announced their opposition to the move. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

(updated at 3:30 p.m.)

The federal environment department wants to add polar bears to Canada’s list of endangered species.

On July 2 an Order of Parliament was posted in the Canada Gazette, asking for an amendment to the Species of Risk Act, which would see polar bears listed as a species “of special concern.”

“The proposed Order is an important commitment regarding Polar Bears and their vulnerability,” reads an impact analysis statement on the Order.

There’s now a 30-day comment period on the amendment.

“Following careful analysis of comments received, the final decision as to whether Polar Bear will be listed under the Species at Risk Act is anticipated in November 2011,” said Mark Johnson, a media spokesperson for Environment Canada.

To gauge public support for the listing of polar bears, Environment Canada carried out public consultations between November 2008 and March 2010.

“In the North, the majority of communities contacted were not in favour of listing the Polar Bear,” the impact analysis statement acknowledges.

Meetings took place in 23 of 25 Nunavut communities and 793 people attended. Of the 119 comments received, the majority did not support listing the polar bear under SARA.

The Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, which, under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, can approve the designation of rare, threatened and endangered species in Nunavut, advised the Minister of the Environment that it would not support the proposed listing of the polar bear as a species of special concern.

The Nunavik Marine Region Wildlife Board also decided against the listing of the polar bear.

And last May, Nunavut’s environment Minister Dan Shewchuk reversed the Government of Nunavut’s previously-held position in favour of listing, following consultation with hunters and elders.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. has said the listing creates an opening for animal welfare groups to try to influence Canada’s polar bear management.

The move to list polar bears comes three years after the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada assessed the polar bear as a species of special concern.

Under SARA, the listing of a species as special concern means a management plan must be prepared within three years to prevent the listed species from becoming endangered or threatened.

But listing polar bears as a species of special concern under SARA won’t affect the way polar bears are managed in Nunavut or the traditional rights of Inuit to hunt polar bears, the GN says.

Nunavut’s game plan with respect to polar bear management remains the same, said Drikus Gissing, the GN’s director of wildlife management.

The major change due to the SARA listing will be the development of the national plan for polar bear management, he said.

Already, the GN is collaborating with the federal government on a national polar bear conservation strategy.

That will also guide a future national management plan for polar bears and the GN’s own polar bear management plans, expected to be produced within the next two years, Gissing said.

As for the national polar bear management plan, this may consider the needs of each polar bear population on a separate basis, as well as the costs and benefits of the plan.

Polar bear populations are considered to be at risk of becoming threatened in four of the 13 Canadian sub-populations of polar bears: in the Western Hudson Bay, Southern Beaufort Sea, Kane Basin and Baffin Bay, “likely due to climate change or over-harvesting.”

Listing of polar bears under SARA as a species of special concern would raise awareness of the importance of the animals and contribute “to reduce further degradation of the species population,” says the analysis statement.

What this means for Inuit who hunt polar bears is uncertain. That impact won’t become clear until the plan is developed, says the analysis.

But Gissing said he doesn’t expect the plan to impact Nunavut hunters.

And if the listing is intended as a symbolic move against climate change, it’s not well thought out.

If people want to do something about climate change, they need to reduce the use oil and gas which cause climate change, he said.

About 450 polar bears are harvested annually in Canada, the majority, about 325, taken by Nunavut hunters.

The Order’s analysis maintains the impacts of listing polar bears on governments, industries and individuals are “expected to be low.”

But it does acknowledge the value of polar bear to Inuit.

Up to 200 kilos of meat can be obtained from a large polar bear, and this can be worth as much as $1,010, it says.

So, overall, this means the total value of meat from the polar bear hunt represents up to $374,635.

As well, a single pelt can be worth as much as $9,600 or more.

The polar bear sports hunt is also worth about $923,800 to Nunavut and can represent up to 13 per cent of a community’s total revenue.

The analysis predicts “no change to harvesting numbers as a result of listing,” and says that it’s possible that the listing may even result in “enhanced tourism traffic in the area where Polar Bear viewing is accessible.”

The polar bear already receives protection under various statutes of Parliament and provincial and territorial acts.

Since 1973, international polar bear management has been coordinated under the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears signed by Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, the United States and Russia.

Canada has also signed agreements with the U.S. and Greenland for the joint management of shared polar bear subpopulations.

In Quebec, polar bears are listed as “vulnerable” under its act on threatened or vulnerable species.

Under the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, Nunavik Inuit, Crees and Naskapis are allocated a “guaranteed harvest” of 62 polar bears annually.

In 2006, the polar bear was up-listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list from lower risk to a vulnerable category, meaning that, as a species, it faces a higher risk in the wild.

The polar bear is also listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna. But Canada determined that international export of polar bear is considered non-detrimental, or won’t affect the species, on the condition that there’s no export from the Baffin Bay polar bear population.