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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 148 / Thursday, August 5, 2021 / Rules and Regulations overharvest Regehr et al. 2017; U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service 2016.
Notably, reductions in physical condition, growth, and survival of polar bears have been associated with declines in sea-ice Rode et al. 2014, Bromaghin et al. 2015, Regehr et al.
2007, Lunn et al. 2016. The attrition of summer Arctic sea-ice is expected to remain a primary threat to polar bear populations Amstrup et al. 2008, Stirling and Derocher 2012, since projections indicate continued climate warming at least through the end of this century Atwood et al. 2016a, IPCC
2014 see section on Climate Change for further details.
In 2008, the Service listed polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended 16
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.; ESA due to the loss of sea-ice habitat caused by climate change 73 FR 28212, May 15, 2008.
The Service later published a final rule under section 4d of the ESA for the polar bear, which was vacated and then reinstated when procedural requirements were satisfied 78 FR
11766, February 20, 2013. This section 4d rule provides for measures that are necessary and advisable for the conservation of polar bears. Specifically, the 4d rule: a Adopts the conservation regulatory requirements of the MMPA and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES for the polar bear as the appropriate regulatory provisions, in most instances; b provides that incidental, nonlethal take of polar bears resulting from activities outside the bears current range is not prohibited under the ESA; c clarifies that the 4d rule does not alter the section 7
consultation requirements of the ESA;
and d applies the standard ESA
protections for threatened species when an activity is not covered by an MMPA
or CITES authorization or exemption.
The Service designated critical habitat for polar bear populations in the United States effective January 6, 2011 75 FR
76086, December 7, 2010. The designation of critical habitat identifies geographic areas that contain features that are essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and that may require special management or protection. Under section 7 of the ESA, if there is a Federal action, the Service will analyze the potential impacts of the action upon polar bears and any designated critical habitat. Polar bear critical habitat units include barrier island habitat, sea-ice habitat both described in geographic terms, and terrestrial denning habitat a functional determination. Barrier island habitat
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includes coastal barrier islands and spits along Alaskas coast; it is used for denning, refuge from human disturbance, access to maternal dens and feeding habitat, and travel along the coast. Sea-ice habitat is located over the continental shelf and includes water 300 m 984 ft or less in depth.
Terrestrial denning habitat includes lands within 32 km 20 mi of the northern coast of Alaska between the Canadian border and the Kavik River and within 8 km 5 mi between the Kavik River and Utqiagvik. The total area designated under the ESA as critical habitat covers approximately 484,734 km2 187,157 mi2 and is entirely within the lands and waters of the United States. Polar bear critical habitat is described in detail in the final rule that designated polar bear critical habitat 75 FR 76086, December 7, 2010. A digital copy of the final critical habitat rule is available at: http
www.fws.gov/r7/fisheries/mmm/
polarbear/pdf/
federal_register_notice.pdf.
Stock Size and Range In Alaska, polar bears have historically been observed as far south in the Bering Sea as St. Matthew Island and the Pribilof Islands Ray 1971. A
detailed description of the SBS polar bear stock can be found in the Services revised Polar Bear Ursus maritimus Stock Assessment Report 86 FR 33337, June 24, 2021. Digital copies of these Stock Assessment Report is are available at: https www.fws.gov/alaska/sites/
default/files/2021-06/Southern%20
Beaufort%20Sea%20SAR%20Final_
May%2019rev.pdf. and https
www.fws.gov/alaska/sites/default/files/
2021-06/Chukchi_Bering%20Sea%
20SAR%20
Final%20May%2019%20rev.pdf.
Southern Beaufort Sea Stock The SBS polar bear stock is shared between Canada and Alaska. Radiotelemetry data, combined with ear tag returns from harvested bears, suggest that the SBS stock occupies a region with a western boundary near Icy Cape, Alaska Scharf et al. 2019, and an eastern boundary near Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada Durner et al. 2018.
The most recent population estimates for the Alaska SBS stock were produced by the U.S. Geological Survey USGS in 2020 Atwood et al. 2020 and are based on mark-recapture and collared bear data collected from the SBS stock from 2001 to 2016. The SBS stock declined from 2003 to 2006 this was also reported by Bromaghin et al. 2015 but stabilized from 2006 through 2015. The
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stock may have increased in size from 2009 to 2012; however, low survival in 2013 appears to have offset those gains.
Atwood et al. 2020 provide estimates for the portion of the SBS stock only within the State of Alaska; however, their updated abundance estimate from 2015 is consistent with the estimate from Bromaghin et al. 2015 for 2010.
Thus, the number of bears in the SBS
stock is thought to have remained constant since the Bromaghin et al.
2015 estimate of 907 bears. This number is also supported by survival rate estimates provided by Atwood et al.
2020 that were relatively high in 2001
2003, decreased during 20042008, then improved in 2009, and remained high until 2015, except for much lower rates in 2012.
Pacific Walrus Pacific walruses constitute a single panmictic population Beatty et al.
2020 primarily inhabiting the shallow continental shelf waters of the Bering and Chukchi Seas where their distribution is largely influenced by the extent of the seasonal pack ice and prey densities Lingqvist et al. 2009; Berta and Churchill 2012; USFWS 2017.
From April to June, most of the population migrates from the Bering Sea through the Bering Strait and into the Chukchi Sea along lead systems that develop in the sea-ice and that are closely associated with the edge of the seasonal pack ice during the open-water season Truhkin and Simokon 2018. By July, tens of thousands of animals can be found along the edge of the pack ice from Russian waters to areas west of Point Barrow, Alaska Fay 1982; Gilbert et al. 1992; Belikov et al. 1996; USFWS
2017. The pack ice has historically advanced rapidly southward in late fall, and most walruses return to the Bering Sea by midto late-November. During the winter breeding season, walruses are found in three concentration areas in the Bering Sea where open leads, polynyas, or thin ice occur Fay 1982;
Fay et al. 1984, Garlich-Miller et al.
2011a; Duffy-Anderson et al. 2019.
While the specific location of these groups varies annually and seasonally depending upon the extent of the seaice, generally one group occurs near the Gulf of Anadyr, another south of St.
Lawrence Island, and a third in the southeastern Bering Sea south of Nunivak Island into northwestern Bristol Bay Fay 1982; Mymrin et al.
1990; Garlich-Miller et al. 2011 USFWS
2017.
Although most walruses remain either in the Chukchi for adult females and dependent young or Bering for adult males Seas throughout the summer
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