A person in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago has been fined $5,255 for using a ship’s foghorn to wake a sleeping polar bear, according to local officials who confirmed the incident earlier this month. The governor of the territory said the vessel was sailing in a fjord in northeastern Svalbard, roughly 620 miles from the North Pole, when “its occupants are said to have spotted a polar bear sleeping on land,” and “a person on board then used the ship’s foghorn, waking the animal, which moved to another location.” The individual agreed to pay the fine after the governor’s office issued it, though neither their identity nor nationality has been disclosed. The penalty stems from Svalbard regulations stating “it is forbidden to needlessly disturb, attract or pursue a polar bear,” a species that’s been protected in the archipelago since 1972; the most recent scientific estimate, conducted in 2015, counted around 260 polar bears living there.

The incident comes amid encouraging news about the health of Svalbard’s polar bear population, despite ongoing concerns about climate change and melting sea ice threatening their habitat. Scientists reported in January that the archipelago’s bears are actually thriving, and even gaining weight. Jon Aars, a senior scientist with the Norwegian Polar Institute, led a team that tracked the weight and size of nearly 800 bears between 1992 and 2019, finding them in good shape and successfully raising new cubs. “I was quite surprised,” Aars told CBS News, “because we have lost so much sea ice since I started,” adding that “some of us would predict that they should be in trouble already” given how heavily polar bears rely on sea ice as a platform for hunting seals.

Instead, Aars’ team found evidence the bears are adapting to smaller ice patches, and that shrinking ice may even be helping them hunt more efficiently by concentrating their prey into smaller, more accessible areas.

EXCLUSIVE: Norway Fines A Boat Operator Over $5,000 For Using Foghorn To Wake Sleeping Polar Bear In Svalbard, A Protected Species Since 1972 That Scientists Say Is Actually Thriving Despite Melting Sea Ice 🐻‍❄️💰