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WHALES AHOY
Japan says will try again with 'scientific' whaling program
By Harumi OZAWA
Tokyo (AFP) April 14, 2015


Migrating whale sets distance record
Paris (AFP) April 14, 2015 - A lone female Western North Pacific grey whale has set a record for long-distance migration, according to a study Tuesday.

Nicknamed Varvara, the nine-year-old whale was tagged off Russia's Sakhalin Island in 2011.

She crossed from the northwestern to the northeastern side of the Pacific and followed the western Canadian and US coast down to breeding grounds off Baja California, Mexico.

She swam 10,880 kilometres (6,800 miles) in 69 days -- "the longest recorded distance travelled during a mammal migration," the scientists said.

She then returned home by a slightly more southerly route, completing a 172-day, 22,511-km (14,069-mile) trek, also a record for round-trip migration.

Until now, the acknowledged record-holder for mammal migration has been the humpback whale, one of which made a one-way trip of 9,800 kms from waters off Brazil to Madagascar, according to a 2010 study.

The new research, published in the British journal Biology Letters, raises intriguing questions about grey whales -- Latin name Eschrichtius robustus.

Grey whales exist in both the eastern and western North Pacific and conservationists consider the two populations to be separate.

Commercial whaling ravaged numbers on both sides of the ocean.

However, those in the east have largely recovered while those in the west are teetering on the edge of extinction -- and indeed at one point were thought to have been wiped out.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the western grey whale population at around 130, making it "critically endangered".

But if Varvara's trek is any guide, there could be a genetic mix between the eastern and western populations, the investigators said.

In other words, some presumed western grey whales could actually be eastern grey whales.

"The population identity of whales off Sakhalin Island needs further evaluation," said the scientists, led by Ladd Irvine at Oregon State University.

Six other whales were also given satellite-monitored tags.

Along with Varvara, two others also crossed into regions inhabited by non-endangered eastern grey whales.

They were "Flex", a 13-year-old male that crossed to waters off Oregon, a journey of 7,611 km, and "Agent", a six-year-old female, which headed to the Gulf of Alaska, 5,464 km away.

The migration patterns break with the idea that grey whales follow exclusively north-south migratory routes along coasts and demonstrate that these mammals have "navigational skills across open water," the paper said.

Japan's top whaling negotiator said Tuesday Tokyo would try again to justify its "scientific" Antarctic Ocean hunt after a panel of experts said the government had not proved why it needed to kill the mammals.

Joji Morishita, Japan's commissioner to the International Whaling Commission (IWC), said he and his fellow officials would do their best to meet demands for evidence their hunt is scientific, with the Japanese government determined to restart what it claims is research.

"We respect their recommendations and we will make the best effort to respond to their recommendations, in good faith and in a sincere manner," Morishita told journalists in Tokyo.

"Our draft research plan is a draft from page one to the end, so all parts of the research plan can be improved, amended or changed in the course of the discussion."

Despite international disapproval, Japan has hunted whales in the Southern Ocean under an exemption in the global whaling moratorium that allows for lethal research.

It makes no secret of the fact that meat from the animals -- killed ostensibly for research -- is processed into food.

The International Court of Justice -- the highest court of the United Nations -- ruled in March last year that the research was a fig leaf for a commercial hunt and ordered that it end.

After that ruling, Japan said it would not catch whales during this winter's Antarctic season but has since expressed its intention to resume "research whaling" in 2015-16.

Japan tinkered with its programme and submitted a new plan to a panel of experts from the IWC. Amongst other things, the plan reduced the annual catch target to 333 from 900, and put a 12-year limit on the research.

- Sustainable hunting -

That panel on Monday said there was not enough evidence supporting why the whales need to be killed if Japan really wants to find out what they eat and how old they are.

"I believe our experts did a very scientific and technical job as... expected," Morishita told reporters.

"As you might know, oftentimes even scientific discussion at the International Whaling Commission can become, I should say, political or emotional because of positions taken by the governments."

He added Japan would fine tune the plan before a meeting of the IWC's science committee in San Diego next month.

"We will see how that will develop at the scientific committee itself in... May," he said.

Japan has said it believes the world's whale population, especially the stock of minke whales, is sizeable enough to accommodate a return to sustainable whaling.

It argued in its proposal to the IWC that knowledge gained by the research killing would help the IWC calculate sustainable levels for hunting.

Lethal research should also lead to a better understanding of the Antarctic marine ecosystem, Japan maintains.

Last month Japanese whaling ships returned from the Antarctic without a single whale, after carrying out what they said was "non-lethal" research, such as sightings.

It was the first time since 1987 when the country began the annual "research" hunt in the Antarctic, according to local media.

Despite having had a target of 900 animals, Japan killed just 251 minke whales in the Antarctic in the 2013-14 season and only 103 the previous year, with the aggressive interventionist tactics of conservation group Sea Shepherd blamed.


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WHALES AHOY
IWC experts question Japan's new whaling plan
Tokyo (AFP) April 13, 2015
A panel of experts from the International Whaling Commission on Monday questioned Japan's new Antarctic whaling plan, telling it to provide more information to justify the killings. Their comments were a fresh setback for Japan, whose "scientific" whaling programme was judged illegal last year by the International Court of Justice after years of criticism from anti-whaling nations and campai ... read more


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