The Upper Lynn Canal Fish and Game Advisory Committee voted in support of the reduced brown bear harvest limit the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) announced last week. The new, seven-bear limit is designed to help regrow the population after Game Management Unit 1D, which includes Haines and Skagway, experienced an estimated 16-20% population decline in 2020, according to ADFG.
At a March 4 advisory committee meeting, ADFG wildlife biologists said the estimated population decrease is based on a revised population estimate for Unit 1D.
“In Haines, moving forward, we’re somewhere probably in the three-hundred range, but we don’t know what that is,” biologist Anthony Crupi said. In 2020, the department documented 49 human-caused brown bear deaths, including animals hunted legally, those shot in defense of life or property (DLPs), and those hit by cars.
Until this year, the department had estimated the Unit 1D brown bear population at roughly 400, based on the assumption that the population density is the same as that of Admiralty Island. Biologist Carl Koch said this estimate is likely high because the upper Lynn Canal is more developed than Admiralty Island.
Crupi said the department is currently working to revise the Haines brown bear population estimate to arrive at a specific, defensible number.
Until then, the department will assume the population is on the lower end. “With bear populations, it’s always good to manage on the conservative side since they’re so slow to reproduce,” Crupi said.
The old harvest limit for Unit 1D was 16 bears, 4% of the old, 400-bear population estimate. The new limit is seven bears and no more than two females in a calendar year, a figure that includes non-hunt kills.
Committee members Ryan Cook and Stuart DeWitt, as well as several members of the public, expressed skepticism about the population estimate and said the new harvest guideline unfairly penalizes hunters for Haines’ inability to properly secure bear attractants.
“You’re taking it out on the hunters and the guides that make a living out of it,” Cook said.
Hunting guide Larry Benda said the measure will effectively shut down his business for the second year in a row. Last year, his season was curtailed by state pandemic-mitigation measures.
“Even if you shut my business down, people will still shoot bears (to defend their property),” Benda said.
Koch said ADFG doesn’t have the ability to regulate bears shot under the defense of life or property law. The department can only regulate legal hunting. He said the new harvest limit isn’t designed as a punishment for hunters, but he acknowledged its unfairness.
“You’re absolutely right. Hunters shouldn’t have to suffer for unsecured attractants causing an excessive number of DLPs… but when it comes to how many bears are in the population, when a bear dies, it’s removed from the population,” Koch said, adding, “This is the toughest challenge I’ve had in my career with Fish and Game.”
Koch said although the department documented 49 bear deaths in 2020, “we know it’s more than that.” He said there’s anecdotal evidence for as many as 60.
Skagway advisory committee member Darren Belisle said the reduced harvest limit is also unfair to Skagway residents.
“Why is Skagway being penalized for the number of bears killed in Haines?” Belisle said. “We’re not killing all of our bears over here.”
Koch said the department didn’t distinguish between Haines and Skagway because it’s uncertain whether the two bear populations are the same. Crupi said they hope the Unit 1D study will provide an answer to this question.
Although there isn’t much the department can do to control DLPs, it’s planning to engage in an education campaign this spring to teach residents how to properly secure bear attractants, Koch said. If a bear gets into an unsecured attractant like garbage or fruit, it teaches the bear that entering developed areas is a good way to find food when natural sources like fish and berries are scarce. This, in turn, increases the potential for human-bear conflict.
The Haines Borough Assembly is also taking a look at how to prevent a repeat of last year’s bear season. At a meeting Tuesday, the assembly approved an ordinance clarifying the ways residents can legally secure bear attractants.