Arnbom says to The Sun that the ban on hunting could be one reason behind the increase, despite the rapidly shrinking sea ice in the areas around Svalbard destroying the polar bears’ habit.
The Svalbard population of polar bears is also believed to be migrating to the eastern parts of the Barents Sea, like the areas around Franz Josef’s land and Novaya Zemlya. The polar bear population on Novaya Zemlya is genetically the same as living on Norway’s Svalbard archipelago.
BarentsObserver reported in June this year that Novaya Zemlya recently was transformed into a nature reserve.
