Yellowknife (Feb 21/05) - New research points to lower polar bear numbers but the Nunavut government has no plans to reduce the number of tags it has issued to communities.

In December, Environment Minister Olayuk Akesuk approved a 115-tag, territory-wide quota, based upon traditional knowledge and science that indicated bear numbers were on the rise.

Nine of the new tags are allocated to the Western Hudson Bay population.

But a study released two weeks ago estimates the bear population in Western Hudson Bay has decreased by about 200 bears in the past six years, to less than 1,000.

Earlier ice break ups on Hudson Bay are forcing the bears to travel onto the land, and into communities, to look for food, says Ian Stirling, a research scientist with the Canadian Wildlife Service, and one of the study's authors.

"The climate is warming. The ice is breaking up earlier. It's giving them a shorter period of time to feed at the most critical time," he says.

Information available from a research centre in Churchill, Man. seems to support Stirling's findings.

"If it's a later break up, the bears are fatter and they don't need to look around for extra food resources, they have much fewer bears in town," he says.

Estimates of the population in Baffin Bay, which received a 41-tag increase, Davis Strait (12 tags), and Foxe-Basin (9 tags) could be affected by the same factors, Stirling said.

While more research is needed, "they are all populations of polar bears that have to fast for variable lengths of time because all the ice melts," he said.

Akesuk says his department is willing to incorporate new information, but there are no plans as yet to reverse the quota increase.

"It's not like I'm going to reverse my decision in a couple of months. It's like we're always reviewing," Akesuk said.

Reports from southern media suggested the government planned to review the quota increase.

Mitchell Taylor, the Manager of Wildlife Research with the department of the environment seems to agree with Akesuk.

"We're going to respond to the new information, but we're not going to overreact," Taylor said, adding the study will likely only affect four of Nunavut's 12 populations.

The Nunavut Wildlife Management Board -- which provides final quota recommendations to Akesuk -- is unlikely to take action until it discusses the minutes from the Polar Bear Technical Committee meeting where Stirling's research was presented.

"They're going to have to weigh both sides and decide where to go," said NWMB chief operating officer Jim Noble of the board's attempt to incorporate observations from Inuit hunters and scientists.

But Stirling does not want to debate which form of observations are more reliable.

"I think we need all kinds of knowledge from everybody going in the same direction."