In brief
In early August, a traveler aboard a vessel in northwest Svalbard was fined 50 000 kroner after blasting the ship’s foghorn to wake a sleeping polar bear—a protected species. Norway’s regional laws prohibit needless disturbance of wildlife. The incident follows other fines for wildlife disruption, underscoring Svalbard’s strict environmental protections.
Person fined for waking polar bear with foghorn
A person has been fined for using a foghorn to wake a sleeping polar bear in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, a local official has said.
The incident happened earlier this month after someone sounded the horn from aboard a vessel that had been sailing in a fjord in north‑western Svalbard – about 1,000 km (620 miles) from the North Pole.
On Thursday, a person – who has not been named – was fined 50,000 kroner (£3,890) over the incident, the governor of the territory confirmed.
Under local regulations in the region, it is forbidden to needlessly disturb, attract or pursue a polar bear, which was declared a protected species in Svalbard in 1972.
About 250 polar bears were counted in the archipelago during the last scientific estimate, carried out in 2015.
Governor Lars Fause said in a statement that when the vessel sailed past the animal, its occupants were said to have spotted a polar bear sleeping on land.
“A person on board then used the ship’s foghorn, waking the animal, which moved to another location,” the governor added.
The individual has agreed to pay the fine.
It is not the first time people have been fined for disrupting animals in the Svalbard region.
In 2024, a tourist was fined 11,500 kroner (£900) for getting too close to a walrus.
The Svalbard Environment Act stipulates that all traffic on the archipelago must take place in a way that does not lead to unnecessary disturbance of local wildlife – which include polar bears, seals, whales, reindeer and arctic foxes.
