A person has been fined 50,000 kroner (£3,890) for using a foghorn to wake a sleeping polar bear in Norway's Svalbard archipelago. The incident, which happened earlier this month, involved an individual sounding an alarm from a vessel sailing in a fjord in northwestern Svalbard.
The governor of the territory confirmed the fine on Thursday, stating that the person, who has not been named, has agreed to pay. Governor Lars Fause said the vessel's occupants spotted a polar bear sleeping on land, and a person on board then used the ship's foghorn, causing the animal to wake and move.
Local regulations in the region prohibit needlessly disturbing, attracting, or pursuing a polar bear. Polar bears have been a protected species in Svalbard since 1972. Approximately 250 polar bears were counted in the archipelago during the last scientific estimate in 2015.
This is not the first instance of fines for disturbing animals in Svalbard; in 2024, a tourist was fined 11,500 kroner (£900) for getting too close to a walrus. The Svalbard Environment Act mandates that all traffic in the archipelago must avoid unnecessary disturbance to local wildlife, which includes polar bears, seals, whales, reindeer, and arctic foxes.