§ 18.30 - Polar bear sport-hunted trophy import permits.

§ 18.30 Polar bear sport-hunted trophy import permits.

(a) Application procedure. You, as the hunter or heir of the hunter's estate, must submit an application for a permit to import a trophy of a polar bear taken in Canada to the Division of Management Authority at the address provided at 50 CFR 2.1(b). You must use an official application (Form 3-200) provided by the Service and must include as an attachment all of the following additional information:

(1) Certification that:

(i) You or the deceased hunter took the polar bear as a personal sport-hunted trophy;

(ii) You will use the trophy only for personal display purposes;

(iii) The polar bear was not a pregnant female, a female with dependent nursing cub(s) or a nursing cub (such as in a family group), or a bear in a den or constructing a den when you took it; and

(iv) For a polar bear taken after April 30, 1994, you made sure the gall bladder and its contents were destroyed;

(2) Name and address of the person in the United States receiving the polar bear trophy if other than yourself;

(3) For a polar bear received as an inheritance, documentation to show that you are the legal heir of the decedent who took the trophy;

(4) Proof that you or the decedent legally harvested the polar bear in Canada as shown by one of the following:

(i) A copy of the Northwest Territories (NWT) or Nunavut Territory hunting license and tag number;

(ii) A copy of the Canadian CITES export permit that identifies the polar bear by hunting license and tag number;

(iii) A copy of the NWT or Nunavut Territory export permit; or

(iv) A certification from the Department of Resources, Wildlife, and Economic Development, Northwest Territories, or the Department of Sustainable Development, Nunavut Territory, that you or the decedent legally harvested the polar bear, giving the tag number, location (settlement and population), and season you or the decedent took the bear;

(5) An itemized description of the polar bear parts you wish to import, including size and the sex of the polar bear;

(6) The month and year the polar bear was sport hunted;

(7) The location (nearest settlement or community) where the bear was sport hunted;

(8) For a female bear or a bear of unknown sex that was taken before January 1, 1986, documentary evidence that the bear was not pregnant at the time of take, including, but not limited to, documentation, such as a hunting license or travel itinerary, that shows the bear was not taken in October, November, or December or that shows that the location of the hunt did not include an area that supported maternity dens; and

(9) For a female bear, bear of unknown sex, or male bear that is less than 6 feet in length (from tip of nose to the base of the tail) that was taken prior to the 1996/97 NWT polar bear harvest season, available documentation to show that the bear was not nursing, including, but not limited to, documentation, such as a certification from the NWT, that the bear was not taken while part of a family group.

(b) Definitions. In addition to the definitions in this paragraph, the definitions in 50 CFR 10.12, 18.3, and 23.3 apply to this section.

(1) Sport-hunted trophy means a mount, rug or other display item composed of the hide, hair, skull, teeth, baculum, bones, and claws of the specimen which was taken by the applicant or decedent during a sport hunt for personal, noncommercial use and does not include any internal organ of the animal, including the gall bladder. Articles made from the specimen, such as finished or unfinished, worked, manufactured, or handicraft items for use as clothing, curio, ornamentation, jewelry, or as a utilitarian item are not considered trophy items.

(2) Management agreement means a written agreement between parties that share management responsibilities for a polar bear population which describes what portion of the harvestable quota will be allocated to each party and other measures which may be taken for the conservation of the population, such as harvest seasons, sex ratio of the harvest, and protection of females and cubs.

(c) Procedures for issuance of permits and modification, suspension or revocation of permits. We, the Service, shall suspend, modify or revoke permits issued under this section:

(1) In accordance with regulations contained in § 18.33; and

(2) If, in consultation with the appropriate authority in Canada, we determine that the sustainability of Canada's polar bear populations is being adversely affected or that sport hunting may be having a detrimental effect on maintaining polar bear populations throughout their range.

(d) Issuance criteria. In deciding whether to issue an import permit for a sport-hunted trophy, we must determine in addition to the general criteria in part 13 of this subchapter whether:

(1) You previously imported the specimen into the United States without a permit;

(2) The specimen meets the definition of a sport-hunted trophy in paragraph (b) of this section;

(3) You legally harvested the polar bear in Canada;

(4) Canada has a monitored and enforced sport-hunting program consistent with the purposes of the 1973 International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears;

(5) Canada has a sport-hunting program, based on scientifically sound quotas, ensuring the maintenance of the affected population at a sustainable level; and

(6) The export and subsequent import:

(i) Are consistent with the provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and other international agreements and conventions; and

(ii) Are not likely to contribute to illegal trade in bear parts, including for bears taken after April 30, 1994, that the gall bladder and its contents were destroyed.

(e) Additional permit conditions. Your permit to import a sport-hunted trophy of a polar bear taken in Canada is subject to the permit conditions outlined in § 18.31(d) and the following additional permit conditions:

(1) You, the permittee, may not import internal organs of the polar bear, including the gall bladder;

(2) After import you may not alter or use the trophy in a manner inconsistent with the definition of a sport-hunted polar bear trophy as given in § 18.30(b);

(3) You may not import a sport-hunted trophy if the polar bear at the time you or the decedent took it was:

(i) A nursing bear or a female with nursing young (i.e., part of a family group);

(ii) A pregnant female; or

(iii) A bear moving into a den or in a den;

(4) You must present to Service personnel at the time of import a valid CITES document from the country of export or re-export;

(5) You must comply with the following import procedures:

(i) Import the sport-hunted trophy through a designated port for wildlife imports (see § 14.12 of this subchapter) during regular business hours, except for full mount trophies that have been granted an exception to designated port permit requirements under § 14.32 of this subchapter;

(ii) Not send the trophy through the international mail; and

(iii) Notify Service personnel at the port at least 48 hours before the import (see § 14.54 of this subchapter) and make arrangements for Service personnel to affix a tag in accordance with paragraph (e)(7) of this section prior to being cleared (see § 14.52 of this subchapter);

(6) You must import all parts of a single trophy at the same time;

(7) The following tagging/marking procedures apply:

(i) Service personnel must affix a permanently locking tag that contains a unique serial number and the common name “polar bear” to the hide which must remain fixed indefinitely to the hide as proof of legal import; and

(ii) Service personnel must permanently mark upon import the parts of the trophy other than the hide, such as the skull and bones, with the hide tag number; and

(8) If the tag comes off the hide, you must within 30 days:

(i) Contact the nearest Service office at a designated port or a Law Enforcement office as given in § 10.22 of this subchapter to schedule a time to present the trophy for retagging;

(ii) Provide as proof that the trophy had been tagged and legally imported a copy of the:

(A) Canceled CITES export permit or re-export certificate;

(B) Canceled U.S. import permit issued under this section; or

(C) Cleared wildlife declaration form (3-177); and

(iii) Present either the broken tag, or if the tag was lost, a signed written explanation of how and when the tag was lost.

(f) Duration of permits. The permit will be valid for no more than one year from the date of issuance.

(g) Fees.

(1) You must pay the standard permit processing fee as given in § 13.11(4) when filing an application.

(2) You must pay the issuance fee of $1,000 when we notify you the application is approved. We cannot issue an import permit until you pay this fee. We will use the issuance fee to develop and implement cooperative research and management programs for the conservation of polar bears in Alaska and Russia under section 113(d) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

(h) Scientific review.

(1) We will undertake a scientific review of the impact of permits issued under this section on the polar bear populations in Canada within 2 years of March 20, 1997.

(i) The review will provide an opportunity for public comment and include a response to the public comment in the final report; and

(ii) We will not issue permits under this section if we determine, based upon scientific review, that the issuance of permits under this section is having a significant adverse impact on the polar bear populations in Canada; and

(2) After the initial review, we may review whether the issuance of permits under this section is having a significant adverse impact on the polar bear populations in Canada annually in light of the best scientific information available. The review must be completed no later than January 31 in any year a review is undertaken.

(i) Findings. Polar bear sport-hunted trophies may only be imported after issuance of an import permit, and in accordance with the following findings and conditions:

(1) We have determined that the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Territory, Canada, have a monitored and enforced sport-hunting program that meets issuance criteria of paragraphs (d) (4) and (5) of this section for the following populations: Southern Beaufort Sea, Northern Beaufort Sea, Viscount Melville Sound (subject to the lifting of the moratorium in this population), Western Hudson Bay, M'Clintock Channel (only for polar bears lawfully taken on or before May 31, 2000), Lancaster Sound, and Norwegian Bay, and that:

(i) For the Southern Beaufort Sea population, no bears are taken west of the equidistant line of the Beaufort Sea;

(ii) For all populations, females with cubs, cubs, or polar bears moving into denning areas or already in dens are protected from taking by hunting activities; and

(iii) For all populations, management agreements among all management entities with scientifically sound quotas are in place; and

(2) Any sport-hunted trophy taken in the Northwest Territories, Canada, between December 21, 1972, and April 30, 1994, may be issued an import permit when:

(i) From an approved population listed in paragraph (i)(1); and

(ii) The issuance criteria of paragraph (d) (1), (2), (3), and (6) of this section are met.

[62 FR 7329, Feb. 18, 1997, as amended at 64 FR 1539, Jan. 11, 1999; 66 FR 1907, Jan. 10, 2001; 66 FR 50851, Oct. 5, 2001; 79 FR 43965, July 29, 2014]