Passengers and crew from a cruise ship had a terrifying encounter with a polar bear on Sept. 2.
The incident caused an evacuation back on board the vessel while it was stopped at Alexandra Fjord on the eastern coast of Ellesmere Island. The polar bear was approaching from the nearby water at around 9:45 p.m. It "didn’t attack but came close to our landing side," stated Lena-Marie Krause, junior port operations manager of destinations with TUI Cruises, who supervised the incident onboard the ship Hanseatic Nature.
Seventy passengers and 14 employees were ashore at the time. All were back safely on board at 10:40 p.m., according to Krause.
The ship, operated by German-based Hapag Lloyd, had seven polar bear monitors on board, Krause said.
Five shots were fired with a signal pistol. Neither the polar bear nor the passengers and crew were injured, she added.
According to the regulations under the Nunavut Marine Tourism Management Plan, polar bear monitors provide Inuit with employment on these trips and are mandatory positions on the vessels.
Nunavut’s Department of the Environment stated that it regulates wildlife viewing by cruise ships through the issuance of wildlife observation licenses.
"As part of the application for a wildlife observation licenses, cruise ships must outline both their activity suspension and wildlife deterrence plans; and, the MS Hanseatic Nature had the appropriate plans in place," the department wrote in an email. "The MS Hanseatic Nature had professionals well-versed in polar bear protection protocols and carried both firearms and non-lethal deterrents. In addition to internal protocols, all cruise operators viewing wildlife in Nunavut must adhere to the Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators’ Arctic Wildlife Guidelines which detail appropriate actions during wildlife encounters. The MS Hanseatic Nature is licensed for wildlife viewing in the territory and followed all guidelines, conditions, and protocols appropriately during this encounter."
