The State of Circumpolar Walrus Populations

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breeding and feeding conditions, and migration routes to meet the requirements to ensure its
conservation. Walruses are expected to have category IV status (uncertain status) in a new edition
of the Red Data Book that is in preparation (M. Gavrilo, pers. comm.).
Atlantic walrus habitats on land and at sea are protected in the following specially protected
areas: Franz Josef Land Federal State Zakaznik (Wildlife Reserve), Russian Arctic National Park
(northern Novaya Zemlya), Nenetskiy Strict Nature Reserve in the Pechora Sea, Great Arctic
Reserve in the Kara Sea, Gydansky Strict Nature Reserve, and in the Vaigach and Yamalsky
regional wildlife reserves (M. Gavrilo, pers. comm.). A national conservation strategy for the
Atlantic walrus is currently under development in Russia (M. Gavrilo, pers.comm.).
Laptev Sea walruses are included in the Red Book of the USSR as a rare endemic subspecies that
is potentially vulnerable because of its low numbers, limited range, and increasing anthropogenic
stress (category III) (Vishnevskaya and Bychkov 1990). Vishenvskaya and Bychkov (1990: Fig. 1)
submitted proposals for walrus sanctuaries in the Laptev Sea region. Laptev walrus habitats are
now protected in the Taimyr Strict Nature Reserve (NE Taimyr), and will receive formal
protection in New Siberian Islands Zakaznik (Wildlife reserve), which is awaiting approval (M.
Gavrilo, pers. comm.).
Federal Law No. 166 On Fishery and conservation of Aquatic Biological Resources also protects
walruses on their haulouts and prohibits access to those areas. It does this by banning vessels
from passing within 3 to 5 km, banning aircraft from passing at altitudes of less than 2000 m, and
prohibiting hunting within 500 m of rookeries (Vaisman et al. 2009 cited in Shadbolt et al. 2014).
United States
Hunt management
The Pacific walrus population in the Bering and Chukchi Seas sustained large commercial and
subsistence harvests throughout the 18th and 19th centuries (Fay 1982). Population size has
fluctuated markedly since then in response to varying levels of human exploitation (Fay et al.
1989). Large-scale harvesting prior to the 1960s is thought to have reduced the population to
50,000-100,000 animals (Fay et al. 1997). Numbers are believed to have increased rapidly in the
1960s and 1970s in response to reduced hunting pressure, adoption of harvest quotas, and
regulations that limited the hunting of females (Fay et al. 1989). Harvest quotas in the United
States were eliminated beginning in 1979 (USFWS 2014), and available evidence (e.g.,
demographic data) suggests that the population has since declined (Garlich-Miller et al. 2011;