The polar bear population overall has increased since their hunting (other than by the native Inuit people) was banned in 1973. A study of the polar bear population in the Western Hudson Bay region shows that it has decreased by about 22% since the early 1980s; this correlates to an earlier ice break-up on Hudson Bay over that period of time. Two separate facts, unrelated to each other. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, "in the declining polar bear population of Canada's Western Hudson Bay, extensive scientific studies have indicated that the increased observation of bears on land is a result of changing distribution patterns and a result of changes in the accessibility of sea ice habitat."