A boat operator in Norway’s Arctic was fined over $5,000 for blasting a foghorn at a sleeping polar bear.
The vessel was sailing off the coast of the Svalbard archipelago, roughly 620 miles from the North Pole, earlier this month when the operator spotted the animal resting on land, according to a statement Thursday from Lars Fause, the governor of the territory.
“Its occupants are said to have spotted a polar bear sleeping on land,” Fause said in the statement.
“A person on board then used the ship’s foghorn, waking the animal, which moved to another location,” he added.
The governor’s office ordered the unidentified offender to pay $5,255, which the person agreed to do. The fine was issued under Svalbard’s strict environmental protection rules, which have shielded polar bears from human disturbance since 1972.
Under the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act, “It is forbidden to needlessly disturb, attract or pursue a polar bear.” The law applies across the archipelago, where approximately 3,000 polar bears roam the Barents Sea region and about 300 remain on Svalbard year-round.
The incident comes as Norwegian authorities tighten wildlife viewing regulations. Starting January 1, new distance requirements mandate that vessels and observers keep at least 300 meters from polar bears during most of the year, extending to 500 meters between March 1 and June 30.
In the viral moment that prompted the fine, the boat operator’s decision to sound the foghorn transformed a passive wildlife sighting into an active disturbance. The bear, roused from sleep, relocated — a clear violation of the prohibition against needlessly disturbing the protected animals. Fause’s office did not identify the vessel or its operator in the statement.
Scientists reported in January that polar bears in the Svalbard region are thriving and even gaining weight despite melting ice threatening their habitats across the Arctic. The bears have adapted partly by spending more time on land and finding alternative food sources, including Svalbard reindeer and bird eggs.
The governor’s office has previously enforced the protection rules against other operators. Two guides from a French cruise operator were fined in an earlier case for disturbing polar bears in the territory.
The Svalbard archipelago lies under Norwegian sovereignty but operates under the Svalbard Treaty of 1920, which allows international access for research and tourism while requiring environmental protection. The governor serves as the chief representative of Norwegian authority on the islands.