The unregulated hunting of polar bears was ended more than 30 years ago by an international agreement among the polar bear nations (Canada, the U.S., Russia, Norway, and Greenland), after the bears were depleted by severe overhunting. The 1973 International Agreement banned hunting except by native peoples. But legal hunting continues to kill more than 700 polar bears a year.

Today, Norway is the only polar bear nation that protects polar bears from all forms of hunting. The other four nations—Canada, the U.S., Russia, and Greenland—permit native hunts, which have traditionally been an important cultural activity and source of income. Of these, Canada is the only nation that allows sport or trophy hunting by non-natives and non-citizens.

Canada allows natives to hunt polar bears under a quota system that divides permits among native communities. This enables native hunters to sell their permits to sport hunters for large sums, a windfall for communities that have no other source of income. Although U.S. hunters were previously permitted to take their trophies out of Canada by obtaining an import permit from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, this practice is no longer permitted now that the polar bear is listed under the Endangered Species Act as a threatened species. However, other nations do allow for the importation of trophies from Canadian hunts.

To set quotas, wildlife biologists in Canada conduct population surveys of polar bears. In the past, lack of data on some populations allowed some quotas to be set at dangerously high levels. Recently, however, biologists have recommended that some quotas be lowered. Canada's Baffin Bay population, for example, is considered to be at risk. According to the most recent report from the Polar Bear Specialist Group, the harvest levels from Nunavut when combined with those from Greenland (which were thought to be much lower than they actually are) has resulted in this shared population being in a non-sustainable harvest situation, meaning the population is in danger of a serious decline. The harvest is thought to be several times above what is sustainable.

In the United States, only Alaskan natives can hunt polar bears. Because the U.S. population of polar bears is shared with Russia, harvest levels in both countries will, in future, be based on a quota system between the two countries, although quotas have not yet been set (see paragraph below).

In Russia, polar bears enjoyed protection from hunting of any kind for decades, but this may change. Because Russia shares a population of polar bears with the United States, the two governments and native groups in the Russian Far East and Alaska drafted and signed an international treaty, ratified by the U.S. Senate, which allows hunting by Russian natives and places quota restrictions on both U.S. and Russian natives. The treaty calls for the application of game management principles and allocation of quotas between villages. A major problem in the Russian Far East is the lack of adequate law enforcement. As a consequence, poaching of polar bears has become widespread. For the treaty to be effective, poaching must be stopped. Scientists believe that the shared Chukchi population is at risk because of poaching.

The key to the regulation of hunting according to game management principles is a reliable knowledge of polar bear numbers. Population estimates for the Circumpolar North range from 20,000 to 25,000 bears. The figure of 22,000 is accepted as a working number. Scientists agree that in many areas, data are lacking entirely. For serious protection of polar bears, the five polar bear nations must conduct a thorough and ongoing census of polar bears, with quota levels set at sustainable levels.

Indigenous peoples in some Canadian communities argue that the population counts by scientists are too low—they cite the number of polar bears arriving in villages and believe that traditional and local knowledge should be used in setting quotas. Scientists, however, stand by their survey methods. They say that the presence of more polar bears is not an indication of a population increase. Rather, it is a sign of disrupted migration patterns as the bears are forced ashore by melting ice.

At the March 2009 range states meeting of the five polar bear nations, scientists agree that climate change is the single biggest threat facing polar bears. At present, the polar bear is classified as a threatened species, but careful management, combined with urgently needed action on climate change, is necessary in order for the species to survive.