To be honest I'm not exactly sure what the removal of the status will do for the species. I still think the bears will have some sort of protection, and from what I understand only the active part of the conservation work will stop. I don't think it will be legal to hunt them etc. anyway.
I think 700 bears are pretty many for a single region. My own country (Norway) is considered to have a pretty OK bear population, but we only have between 120 and 170 grown bears living here. Remember that these are large animals that each have a huge home range that they will defend from other bears.