DISTRIBUTION OF POLAR BEARS (URSUS-MARITIMUS) IN THE SVALBARD AREA

The distribution and movements of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in the Svalbard area were studied, using mark and recapture and satellite ra dio-telemetry in the period 1988 to 1994. A total of 172 bears has bee n captured, mostly in the southern and south-eastern parts of Svalbard , and 36 females have been tracked by satellite for more than 330 days . Two bears out of 389 tagged in the period 1966 to 1993 have been rep orted from the Greenland catches, which have been about 100 per year i n the same period. About 95% of tracking days and 89% distance covered were from the Norwegian part of the area, the rest were from Russian territory. Minimum polygon home-range estimates for 36 females, each t racked for more than 330 days, were 69468 +/- 79136 km(2). Twenty-five percent (9/36) of the females have moved eastwards into Russian terri tory. Only two of them (6%), one of them in two different years, have landed at Franz Josef Land and one at Novaja Zemlja. Information on se asonal fidelity based on the distance from first spring capture locati on to spring locations in consecutive years exists for 38 female and f our male bears. For 30 females, the average distance after one year wa s 149.3 +/- 143.2 km from the first tagging site. After two years the average distance was 78.9 +/- 82.5 km for 15 females. after three year s the distance was 51.1 +/- 29.5 km for nine females and after four ye ars 32.0 +/- 31.9 km for four. The regression slope between distances and time is negative. The denning locations of 25 of the females were recorded based on satellite data. Twenty-four of these were al Svalbar d and one (4%) at Franz Josef Land. Satellite data combined with mark recapture data show that the polar bears have a very high degree of se asonal fidelity to Svalbard. This suggests that the migration of polar bears between Svalbard and Greenland and between Svalbard and Russia is relatively low and that the Svalbard population of polar bears can be managed as a local population.