That was one of the reasons given, and this proposal would certainly weaken the commission's case if implemented. The fact that they are proposing to reduce the season bag limit, though, tells me that they have some unwarranted (IMO) concern about population impacts from bear hunting. As far as I know, the biologists have no such concern, unless they've drastically changed their position since last year.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I hadn't heard about it, and I'll certainly be giving my input.