ActionLead
Participants:
- Cecilia Lougheed (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2020-2022)
- Karrie Singer (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2020-2022)
- Dave Rippeto (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2020-2022)
- Ernie Cooper (E. Cooper Environment Consulting, 2020-2022)
Greenland, Russia and Norway did not participate in the implementation of Action T-1 but followed the progress at the level of the Range States Heads of Delegation.
Summary of the Action:
Canada is the only country that allows exports of polar bears for commercial purposes. To ensure the best available information is being used to inform decisions made by Canada’s CITES Scientific and Management Authorities, Canada commissioned a review and analysis of its polar bear harvest and trade from 2012 to 2021.
Duration of action: 2020-2022
Deliverables (output)
D1: Interim draft of trade report for the period of 2012 – 2021 was completed in March 2022. Funding Was provided by Canada. The draft report underwent review by ECCC colleagues and domestic co-management partners in April and May 2022. The Polar Bear Range States were offered the opportunity to review the draft document in May and June 2022.
D2: Final version of trade report for the period of 2012 – 2021. Completed in September 2022. Feedback received on the draft report from ECCC colleagues, Canadian domestic co-management partners, and the Polar Bear Range States was considered and incorporated as appropriate, to produce the final version of the trade report. The final version was published in September 2022.
D3: PowerPoint presentation giving an overview of the trade report. Completed in May 2022. The contractor (Ernie Cooper) delivered an initial presentation to the Polar Bear Range States Heads of Delegation on February 8, 2022. A second presentation was provided to the Polar Bear Range States Heads of Delegation on May 10, 2022.
Impact (outcome):
The report on Canadian polar bear trade (2012–2021) indicates a fluctuating market influenced by international demand and the COVID-19 pandemic. The boom-and-bust cycle in hide prices impacted hunting differently across regions. While Nunavut maintained consistent hunting rates due to advance payments, Quebec showed fluctuations correlating with hide market conditions. Post-2015, sport hunting increased, but trophy exports declined. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a drastic drop in sport hunting in 2019–2021. Market conditions affected reporting and hunting patterns in Quebec, emphasizing the need for accurate reporting. Sex-selective harvests also occurred, with gender ratios influenced by market demands. Conservation threats remained low during the study period.
This report was prepared as a follow-up to a similar previous report entitled Review and Analysis of Canadian Trade in Polar Bears from 2005–2014. Although that report also concluded that trade posed a low threat to the conservation of polar bears, the trade dynamics reported were very different from the 2022 report. During the 2005–2014 period trade in polar bear hides was booming and prices for hides were at an all-time high while the 2022 report showed that the international market demand for polar bear hides declined rapidly after 2014. The dynamics for trade in polar bear hides in 2005 were considerably different than the dynamics in 2012, which were considerably different than the dynamics of 2019. This shows that market influencers on polar bear harvest may change rapidly. As a result, the Range States may wish to commission another similar report in 2029 that reviews the harvest and trade of polar bears for the years 2019–2028.
The results of this report helped to inform the NDF report for Canada that was produced by Canada’s CITES Scientific Authority.
Dissemination:
The final report prepared by Ernie Cooper was shared by email with Canadian domestic and international Range State partners and was posted on the Polar Bear Range States website. A PowerPoint presentation was also delivered to Canadian domestic and international Range State partners, by the report author (Ernie Cooper).
