Foxe Basin (FB)

Status table outtake

Table comment: Estimate based on mark-recovery with tetracycline biomarking and harvest. There are no estimates of vital rates. Sustainability of harvest is unknown.

Based on 12 years of mark-recapture studies (primarily within Hudson Bay), tracking of female bears with VHF radio and satellite collars in western Hudson Bay and southern Hudson bay, the Foxe Basin (FB) subpopulation appears to occur in Foxe Basin, northern Hudson Bay, and the western end of Hudson Strait (Taylor and Lee 1995). During the ice-free season, polar bears are concentrated on Southampton Island (the number of bears on the island was estimated at 240 independent bears in August 2008; S. Stapleton, unpublished data, Peacock et al. 2008) and along the Wager Bay coast; however, significant numbers of bears are also encountered on the islands and coastal regions throughout the Foxe Basin area (Peacock et al. 2008; see Research in Canada, this volume). A total subpopulation estimate of 2,119 ± 349 was developed in 1996 (Taylor et al. 2006c) from a mark-recapture analysis based on tetracycline biomarkers. The marking effort was conducted during the ice-free season, and distributed throughout the entire area. TEK suggests the subpopulation of polar bears has increased (GN consultations in villages in Foxe Basin 2004 – 2009); the subpopulation estimate was increased to 2,300 bears in 2005. Survival and recruitment rates required for PVA assessment are unavailable, and the rates observed from adjacent populations vary considerably. During a comprehensive summertime aerial survey in 2009 (based on distance sampling and double-observer estimation) covering 43,000 km, 814 bears were observed (S. Stapleton, unpublished data, Peacock et al. 2009); abundance estimates will be developed shortly.