I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 225 
To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to allow the 
importation of polar bear trophies taken in sport hunts in Canada. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 3, 2017 
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to 
allow the importation of polar bear trophies taken in 
sport hunts in Canada. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restoration of the 
U.S.-Russia Polar Bear Conservation Fund Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) The United States Fish and Wildlife Service 
estimates that the polar bear population is currently 
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at 20,000 to 25,000 bears, up from as low as 5,000 
to 10,000 bears in the 1950s and 1960s. 
(2) A 2002 United States Geological Survey of 
wildlife in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coast-
al Plain noted that the polar bear populations ‘‘may 
now be near historic highs’’. 
(3) A permit fee for importing polar bears will 
invigorate the public-private funding partnership for 
the United States-Russian Polar Bear Conservation 
Fund. 
(4) TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring 
network, has stated both that ‘‘the global population 
of Polar Bears is not small and the species’ area of 
distribution is not restricted,’’ and ‘‘[t]rade does not 
appear to be a significant threat to the species.’’. 
TRAFFIC also recommended that the polar bear 
not be uplisted to appendix 1 at the 16th Conference 
of the Parties of the Convention on International 
Trade of Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora 
(CITES). 
(5) The International Union for Conservation of 
Nature (IUCN)/Species Survival Commission (SSC) 
Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG), has stated 
that further trade restrictions on the polar bear are 
‘‘unlikely to confer a conservation benefit, and could 
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have a negative impact on socioeconomic systems as 
well as domestic and international partnerships’’. 
(6) The International Union for Conservation of 
Nature has found that ‘‘hunting is a form of wildlife 
use that, when well-managed, may assist in fur-
thering conservation objectives by creating the rev-
enue and economic incentives for the management 
and conservation of the target species and its habi-
tat, as well as supporting local livelihoods’’. 
SEC. 3. PERMITS FOR IMPORTATION OF POLAR BEAR TRO-
PHIES. 
The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 is 
amended— 
(1) 
in 
section 
101(a)(3)(B) 
(16 
U.S.C. 
1371(a)(3)(B)), by inserting ‘‘or under section 
104(c)(5) of this title’’ after ‘‘paragraph (5) of this 
subsection’’; and 
(2) 
in 
section 
102(b)(3) 
(16 
U.S.C. 
1372(b)(3)), by inserting before the semicolon the 
following: ‘‘, except that this paragraph does not 
prohibit the importation of polar bear parts under a 
permit issued under section 104(c)(5) of this title’’. 
Æ 
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