Svalbard issues record NOK 50,000 fine for foghorn disturbance of sleeping polar bear

An unnamed individual was fined 50,000 Norwegian kroner (£3,890) for sounding a ship's foghorn to wake a sleeping polar bear in a northwestern Svalbard fjord. Governor Lars Fause confirmed the person agreed to pay. The fine exceeds prior penalties: NOK 20,000 each for two guides disturbing polar bears in 2024, and NOK 11,500 for a tourist approaching a walrus. Svalbard's last polar bear count, in 2015, estimated roughly 250 individuals.