Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have a return to oral question asked by Mr. Pudluk on October 17, 1994 on the use of radio collars on polar bears. The particular study the honourable Member is referring to is being conducted in the Alaskan part of the Arctic Ocean. Canadian and American biologists worked from two ice breakers that were travelling to the North Pole from Alaska. Two adult female bears were captured and fitted with satellite radio collars. The bears are being monitored by Alaskan researchers.

Madam Speaker, radio collars are an important tool used in polar bear management. They are used to track polar bear movements and to determine population boundaries. Once this is known, other studies are done to estimate population size in order to ensure that a population is not over harvested. The Department of Renewable Resources will continue to use radio collars whenever they are the best method of obtaining information for managing polar bears. Communities are always consulted before a study using radio collars can begin within the Northwest Territories.

During the last two years in the Northwest Territories, polar bear research and management studies have been focused from McLure Strait east to Baffin Bay. Last fall, radio collars were attached to polar bears in this area. Good information on polar bear movements was collected and biologists began removing collars this fall. The remaining radio collars will be removed next spring. Thank you, Madam Speaker.