Boat Operator Fined More Than $5,000 for Waking Sleeping Polar Bear with Ship’s Horn
A boat operator has been fined roughly $5,300 after using a ship’s horn to intentionally wake a sleeping polar bear in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, according to the office of Governor Lars Fause.
Fause said the incident happened in early August in Lomfjorden, a fjord within the Hinlopen Strait. Someone aboard the vessel spotted a polar bear on shore and sounded the horn, causing the animal to get up and move to another location.
The governor’s office determined the action was intentional and breached the Svalbard Environmental Act, which prohibits the unnecessary disturbance, lure, or pursuit of polar bears. The boat operator accepted the fine of 50,000 Norwegian kroner, or about $5,307, and agreed to pay it. The person’s identity has not been released.
Polar bears have been protected in Svalbard for decades. They were listed as a protected species in the region in 1972, and a 1973 international agreement extended protections across the Arctic. According to the World Wildlife Fund, an estimated 3,000 polar bears live in the Barents Sea area stretching from Svalbard to the western Russian Arctic, accounting for about one-ninth of the global polar bear population. Most of them travel seasonally to hunt, leaving roughly 300 polar bears in Svalbard year-round.
The case underscores how strictly Svalbard’s wildlife rules are enforced as Arctic tourism grows. Beyond the disturbance rule, the archipelago enforces specific distance limits: it is illegal to come within 300 meters, or about 984 feet, of a polar bear from July to February. From March to June, during mating season, the minimum distance is 500 meters, or about 1,640 feet. Hunting polar bears has also been prohibited since they were first declared protected in the region.
The fine sends a clear reminder that officials treat human-caused stress to protected wildlife seriously, even when the animal does not appear to be harmed. The incident was reported by other people on the ship, and the case drew public attention because it involved a deliberate act rather than an accidental encounter.