A population size of 2,500 bears was estimated in 1998 using mark-recapture methods. Population is through to be declining, because of highly selective harvest of male polar bears.
Status table outtake
|
Aerial survey / Mark-recapture analysis |
Additional / Alternative Analysis |
|||||||||||
| Number (year of estimate) |
±2 SE or 95% CI |
Number (year of estimate) |
±2 SE or min-max range |
Sim | TEK | Historical annual removals (5 yr mean) | Potential maximum annual removals | Status | Current trend | Estimated risk of future decline | ||
| 2541 (1998) | 1759-3323 | 83 | 85 | Data deficient | Declining | Higher | ||||||
Table comment: 69% of PVA simulations resulted in subpopulation decline after 10 years. PVA estimate should be regarded as conservative due to unique male-bias in harvest. Demographic data are 11 years old. Population has highly selective harvest for males; however it is likely that selective hunting will decline with less sport hunting.
Information on the movements of adult female polar bears monitored by satellite radio-collars, and mark-recapture data from past years, has shown that this subpopulation is distinct from the adjoining Viscount Melville Sound, M’Clintock Channel, Gulf of Boothia, Baffin Bay and Norwegian Bay subpopulations (Taylor et al. 2001a). Survival rates of the pooled Norwegian Bay and LS populations were used in the PVA to minimize sampling errors; the subpopulation estimate of 2,541 ± 391 is based on an analysis of both historical and current mark-recapture data to 1997 (Taylor et al. 2008b). This estimate is considerably larger than a previous estimate of 1,675 that included Norwegian Bay (Stirling et al. 1984). Taylor et al. (2008b) estimated survival and recruitment parameters that suggest this subpopulation has a lower renewal rate than previously estimated.