BILATERAL / RUSSIA
First Update; pages 924-925
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Done at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy 20 September 1995
Primary source citation: Copy of text provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Interior
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PROTOCOL OF THE U.S.-RUSSIA WORKING MEETING FOR PREPARATION OF DRAFT PRINCIPLES FOR THE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE CHUKOTKA-ALASKA POPULATION OF POLAR BEARS
The two sides discussed the following: - the results of joint polar bear research in Russia and the U.S. during 1995, leading to the conclusion that the Chukotka-Alaska population is prospering and may be used for subsistence purposes to satisfy the customary and traditional needs of the Native People not only of Alaska, but also of Chukotka. - the status of polar bear conservation in the U.S. and Russia, noting that nature conservation agencies and organizations in the U.S. and Russia, and the Native People of Chukotka and Alaska are undertaking measures for the recovery and sustainability of the species' population abundance and the protection of its habitat and migration routes. - legal aspects of national legislation on the conservation and management of their shared polar bear population, agreeing on the necessity of coordinating measures for the establishment of a mechanism for joint protection and further study of this population. - the use of the Chukotka-Alaska population of polar bears for subsistence and the manufacture of handicrafts and clothing by the local Native People, noting that this must be based on the principles of sustainable use. - the results of joint efforts by the Native Peoples of Chukotka and Alaska to work out ways of conserving and using polar bears, noting the constructive approach taken to this problem and the interest of the Native People in hunting of polar bears, arising from the need to satisfy their traditional requirements and to establish scientifically-based standards for take.
The two sides also agreed on draft Principles for the Conservation and Management of the Chukotka-Alaska Population of Polar Bears. The text is attached. Additional consultations on Article 1.2 and Article 2 of the draft Principles will be conducted at a time to be agreed on by both sides.
It was mutually decided that the next meeting to adopt a draft text of a polar bear agreement will be held in the U.S. in the first quarter of 1996. This Protocol was signed on September 19, 1995 in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia in the English and Russian languages, both versions being equally authentic.
For the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior [Signature] David B. Allen Alaska Regional Director
For the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of the Russian Federation [Signature] Grigoriy K. Kovalev Deputy Director, Division of Biological Resource Conservation