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OCTOBER 17, 2000

On Monday, the United States and Russia signed a treaty to govern the harvest of polar bears and to regulate the subsistence quotas of Natives in both countries.

Native groups in Alaska and the Chukotka region in Russia will participate in the implementation of the treaty's provisions. A commission will be set up to study environmental issues related to setting quotas.

Natives in Alaska continue to hunt polar bears annualy, but Natives in in Chukotka haven't been able to do so since 1956. In the United States, the Marine Mammal Protection Act makes hunting polar bears for sport illegal.

Get the Story:
Nations ink polar bear pact (The Anchorage Daily News 10/17)

Relevant Links:
Polar Bear Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service - www.r7.fws.gov/mmm/pbear.html