"The quota was set at 150 animals in 2006, and will be reviewed next year," Ole Heinrich of Greenland's fishing and hunting directorate told AFP.

"Only professional hunters with special permits issued by their local authorities are allowed as of January 1 to kill a maximum of 150 polar bears during the year," he said.

That is far fewer than the 200 to 250 bears normally killed each year in the autonomous Danish territory, but more than the level recommended by biologists, Heinrich said.

Hunters, who will not be allowed to hunt polar bear cubs or their mothers, can get up to 2,685 euros (3,250 dollars) for the pelt of a polar bear.

Meanwhile, plans to introduce polar bear safaris for tourists, where they would accompany an authorized hunter to kill a limited number of bears, will be postponed until 2007 at the earliest.

Such a hunt "would involve only a few bears", Heinrich stressed, adding that the delay was due to the fact that "the hunters have to be trained to be guides, to ensure the tourists' security and well-being and resolve logistical issues."

Some 25,000 of the hulking white animals roam the Arctic, mostly in Canada and Greenland.

The new quota is aimed at "protecting these animals threatened by global warming in the Arctic which is causing the ice, which is their hunting ground, to melt and making it increasingly difficult for them to find food," Heinrich said.

The bears roam large expanses of ice to hunt their prey, breaking through the ice with their massive paws to catch seals and fish.

According to an Arctic Climate Impact Assessment report presented in Iceland in 2004, the Arctic ice has shrunk by about eight percent in the past 30 years.

The report showed that the region has heated up twice as fast as the rest of the world in the past decade, and warned that within 100 years the Arctic ice could melt completely during the summer, threatening many species and the lifestyle of the indigenous Inuit population.

Due to rising temperatures, the ice recedes earlier in the season every year. Polar bears can either remain on land where they risk dying of starvation, or swim increasing distances to reach the ice to hunt for food.

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