The State of Circumpolar Walrus Populations

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while mandatory, is rare (APNN 2014b cited in Ugarte 2015). Management authorities set quotas
assuming a struck and loss rate of 3% in Baffin Bay, 15% in West Greenland and 11% in East
Greenland. These rates are based on information provided by hunters and have not been
independently verified. There is a carry-over system whereby unused harvests can be transferred
from one year to the next and overharvests are subtracted from the following year (Ugarte 2015).
Habitat Protection
In 2003 the Greenland Home Rule Government adopted a new Nature Protection Act
(Landstings Act no 29 of 18 December 2003 on the Protection of Nature) (Government of
Greenland 2003) to protect biological diversity, ensure that exploitation is sustainable, and
implement international agreements on the conservation of nature under Greenlandic law. This
protection is to be based on ecological sustainability in accordance with the precautionary
principle and thereby affords some protection to walruses and their habitats. The Greenland
Mineral Resources Act and other rules, regulations, and guidelines (Government of Greenland
2009), also stipulate a range of measures for protecting nature and the environment (Government
of Greenland 2016).
The probability of future large-scale exploration for hydrocarbons offshore Greenland is high, and
such exploration can include activities that affect walruses and their habitat. Applications to
conduct hydrocarbon exploration must include an environmental impact assessment (Wiig et al.
2014). Before opening new areas for exploration and initiating a licensing process the Greenland
Government has been conducting its own Strategic Environmental Impact Assessments
(Boertmann et al. 2013). These assessments have been completed for eastern Baffin Bay
(Boertmann et al. 2009a), southeastern Baffin Bay - Davis Strait - northern Labrador Sea
(Mosbech et al. 2007; Merkel et al. 2012; Boertmann et al. 2013; Frederiksen et al. 2012), and
Northeast Greenland (Boertmann et al. 2009b; Boertmann and Mosbech 2012). Future
hydrocarbon exploration might adversely impact all three walrus populations that use Greenland
waters (Wiig et al. 2014). There are licenses for exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in
the Greenland Sea but so far only seismic testing is taking place (M. Frost, WWF Greenland, pers.
comm.).
The Melville Bay Nature Reserve, created in June 1980 in northwestern Greenland (Government
of Greenland 1989), and the National Park of North and East Greenland, established July 1974
(Government of Greenland 1992), both offer some habitat protection for terrestrial walrus
haulouts but their boundaries follow the coast and do not extend to offshore waters (Wiig et al.
2014). However, guidelines and marine protection zones have been established to prevent or
limit impacts of summer and fall (mid-June through October) seismic surveys on walruses in both