SC/J09/JR3

Methodology and survey procedure under the JARPN II – coastal
component of Sanriku and Kushiro-, with special emphasis on whale
sampling procedures
TOSHIYA KISHIRO1, HIDEYOSHI YOSHIDA1, MUTSUO GOTO2, TAKEHARU BANDO2
AND HIDEHIRO KATO3
Contact e-mail: kishiro@affrc.go.jp
1

National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries, 2-12-4, Fukuura, Kanazawa, Yokohama Kanazawa
236-8648, Japan

2

The Institute of Cetacean Research, 4-5, Toyomi-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0055, Japan.

3

Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, 1-5-7, Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-0075 Japan

ABSTRACTThis paper summarized the methodology of the whale sampling surveys in the coastal component of JARPN II using
small-type whaling catcher boats. The coastal component started with two feasibility surveys: one in the autumn of2002 off Kushiro and the other in the spring of 2003 off Sanriku district under the full JARPN II research plan. The
surveys were introduced to cover the temporal and spatial gaps in sampling, which cannot be covered by the Nisshin
Maru research unit used for offshore sampling. After the two feasibility surveys with a sampling of 50 common
minke whales in each year, the coastal component was revised with a maximum sample size of 60 whales for each of
the spring and autumn seasons. The first revised survey was conducted in the autumn of 2004 off Kushiro. No spring
sampling off Sanriku was done in 2004. Both areas were surveyed in every year from 2005 to 2007 with a sample
size of 60 for each area. Research periods of each survey lasted 23 to 46 days in April and May (off Sanriku) and 33
to 52 days in September and October (off Kushiro). The whale sampling was done by three or four small-typewhaling catcher boats in the waters within the maximum of 50 nautical miles from the Kushiro port or the Ayukawa
port. A land station with a research head office was established near each of Kushiro and Ayukawa port. The officeprincipally determined searching area and routes of the sampling boats everyday, based on the weather conditions,whale distribution and information on coastal fisheries, and all boats returned to the port every night. All common
minke whales sighted were targeted for sampling, except for cow-calf pairs. Once the boat sampled a whale, shereturned to the port as soon as possible. At the port, whales were lifted up from the boat by a crane, and transported to
the land station by a freight trailer. All whales sampled were biologically examined at the station in almost the samemanner as that for the offshore component. In addition, a dedicated sighting survey using line transects methodology
was carried out by small-type whaling catcher boats as part of the 2004 survey off Kushiro.

KEYWORDS: COMMON MINKE WHALE; NORTH PACIFIC; COASTAL WATERS OF JAPAN; SCIENTIFICPERMITS11. BACKGROUND
The full-scale surveys of the second phase of the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special
Permit in the western North Pacific (JARPN II) started in 2002 (Government of Japan, 2002a). The
objectives of the surveys are: i) feeding ecology and ecosystem studies, involving prey consumption
by cetaceans, prey preferences of cetaceans and ecosystem modeling, ii) monitoring environmental
pollutants in cetaceans and marine ecosystem, and iii) stock structure of whales (Government ofJapan, 2002a).
The former JARPN (1994-1999) and the JARPN II feasibility study (2000-2001) showed that
common minke whales were widely distributed from the offshore to the coastal waters and fed on
various prey species such as Japanese anchovy, Pacific saury and walleye pollock (Government ofJapan, 2002b; Tamura and Fujise, 2002). Especially, the coastal area of Japan was an importantfishing ground and the competition between the whales and fisheries was likely to be severe.
However, the Nisshin-Maru research vessels could not survey in the near shore areas or in theseasons from late autumn to early spring because of the practical availability of the vessels. Under
this situation, sampling of common minke whales in the coastal areas by using small-type whaling
catcher boats was introduced as a ‘coastal component’ to cover the temporal and spatial gaps, in the
full-scale JARPN II (Government of Japan, 2002a).
The coastal component started with a two-year feasibility survey to examine the logistic aspects ofthe methodology (Government of Japan, 2002a). First survey was carried out in the coastal waters
off Kushiro, northeast Japan, during 10 September to 12 October 2002 (Kishiro, et al., 2003) andsecond survey was conducted in the waters off Sanriku district, from 8 April to 2 May 2003 (Yoshida,
et al., 2004). Both surveys took 50 common minke whales, respectively, in the coastal waters within
a 30 nautical miles radius from the port in respective survey area. After detailed examination of theresults of the logistic aspects, it was concluded that no substantial problem occurred in conducting
the survey and the coastal survey could be continued as a component of the JARPN II using samekind of vessels (small-type whaling catcher boats) and methodology (Kato, et al., 2004). However,re-calculation of required sample size using data obtained from those surveys suggested that sample
size should be modified to be 60 individuals in each area/season (Tamura, et al., 2004), and taking
account of the possible geographical and/or temporal variations of prey consumption of the whales,
the coastal surveys thought to be needed on a yearly bases in each local area (Government of Japan,
2004a). Based on these results, revised JARPN II research plan was submitted to the 56th IWC/SCannual meeting (Government of Japan, 2004b), and coastal component was revised with a maximum
sample size of 60 common minke whales for each of the spring (off Sanriku) and autumn (off2

Kushiro) seasons. The first revised survey was conducted in the autumn of 2004 off Kushiro(Kishiro, et al., 2005). No spring sampling off Sanriku was done in 2004. Then, both local areas
were surveyed in every year from 2005 to 2007 seasons (Kishiro, et al., 2006; 2008, Yoshida, et al.,2006; 2007, Goto, et al., 2007; Bando, et al., 2008). These surveys were authorized by theGovernment of Japan in compliance with Article VIII of the International Convention for the
Regulation of Whaling. The National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries (NRIFSF), Fisheries
Research Agency, and the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) conducted the surveys cooperatewith the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology.
The coastal component principally consisted of three research units as follows; 1) Whale sampling
survey by small-type whaling catcher boats, 2) Prey species survey by echo sounder-trawler survey
vessel, 3) Dedicated sighting survey by independent research vessel. Among them, this paper
summarized the methods of the whale sampling surveys conducted in 2002 to 2007, with specialreference to methodology of searching and sampling by small-type whaling catcher boats.
Methodologies of prey species surveys were summarized in Watanabe, et. al., 2009 for Kushiro
surveys, and Yonezaki, et. al., 2009 for Sunriku surveys, respectively. Methodology of the dedicatedsighting survey was summarized in Kiwada, et. al., 2009.
2. GENERAL METHODOLOGY OF THE WHALE SAMPLING SURVEY
Small-type whaling catcher boats are very small sized vessels (Table 1), extremely weak in bad
weather conditions such as big waves and strong wind, and cannot stay on the sea for a long period.
Thus, we incorporated a land-based operation system for whale sampling in the coastal component.
Sampling procedure was designed taking account of operational capacity, ability, and arrangementsof the small boats. These procedures was different from the random sampling system adopted by the
JARPA II and the JARPN II offshore component using large vessels, but thought to be acceptable interms of stomach contents collection if the samples evenly cover the area where whales were seen in
the targeted small local area (Kato, et al., 2004). Table 2 shows an outline of all sampling surveys in
the coastal component of JARPN II from 2002 to 2007 season.
2.1 Research area and season
Research area were set in the coastal waters off Kushiro, southeastern part of the Pacific coast of
Hokkaido, in autumn season and off the Sanriku district, northeastern part of the Japanese mainisland, in spring season (Fig. 1). Both waters were known to be major whaling grounds of the pastcommercial whaling for common minke whales in respective season (Hatanaka and Miyashita,1997) and also important fishing grounds for other commercially important species such as Pacificsaury, Japanese anchovy, and sand lance. The possible competition between the whales and the3

fisheries in these areas was suggested by the JARPN and the JARPN II feasibility study (Tamura andFujise, 2002). Thus, the research areas were set in these waters. These areas were located in thenorthern and middle part of the sub-area 7 established by the IWC. In order to maintain freshness ofsamples for biological examination at the land station, especially, to maintain freshness of stomach
contents for feeding study, surveys was mainly conducted within a 30 nautical miles radius from theport in respective area (the Kushiro port or the Ayukawa port), and limited within the maximum of
50 n. miles radius from the port.
2.2 Sampling vessels
Following small-type whaling catcher boats were used as sampling vessels. Details of the boats wereshown in Table 1 and Figure 2.
Sumitomo Maru No. 31(31S,

32.0GT)

Koei Maru No. 75(75K,

46.2GT)

Taisho Maru No. 28(28T, 47.3GT)

Katsu Maru No.7

(7K, 32.0GT)

Three boats (31S, 28T, 7K) were used in the first survey off Kushiro in 2002, and then, all of fourboats (31S, 75K, 28T, 7K) were used in 2003 and afterwards.
2.3 Land station (JARPN II research station)
A land station with a research head office was established in the respective season for biologicalsampling, flensing, and commanding the operation of the sampling vessels. In the survey off Kushiro,
one station was established in the Kushiro port area (42°58’N, 144°22’E) in 2002 or in the suburbsof Kushiro City (42°58’N, 144°05’E) in 2004 and after (Fig. 3). In the survey off Sanriku, anotherstation was established in the Ayukawa port area (38°17’N, 141°30’E). The head office continued tocommunicate with the sampling vessels during the survey, using radio or marine telephone. Once thesampling vessel took a whale, the carcass was pulled onto the rear deck of the vessel and she
returned to the port as soon as possible. At the port, whale was lifted up from the vessel by a crane,using a wire net and transported to the station by a 11-tons freight trailer (Fig. 3).
2.4 Searching methods of the sampling vessels
2.4.1 Feasibility surveys in 2002 and 2003
Predetermined research track line was not settled. Searching was conducted generally following the
traditional manner of the coastal small-type whalers, to maintain the ability for sighting andcapturing the whales by small boats with few members of the crew. Searching route of the sampling4

vessels within the research area was arbitrarily determined based on the experience of gunner on theleading catcher boat (28T) in every day. Meetings among the head of the office, researchers, gunners,
and captains of the boats were often held at the port to determine the searching route and tactics ofthe operation. General procedure of searching was follows:(1) The boats depart the port about two miles apart from each other in the direction of expected
whale concentrations.
(2) The boats cruise at 10-11 knots in speed, and change the course along with the leader boat.
(3) Searching is carried out from the top barrel (6 to 7 m above the water surface) with almost allcrew members (4 to 5 persons) except for persons handling the boat. Searching is also conductedin some times form upper bridge by one or two crews and a researcher.
(4) Each boat tries to take her first encountered whale.
(5) If boat captured whale, she returned to the port as soon as possible. During the return cruise,
searching was resumed but sampling was not conducted even if whales were sighted. After thewhale was transported to the station, the boat re-departed from the port as long as a situation
allows.
(6) After whale was sighted or boat was arrived at 30 n. miles from the port, boats change thecourse freely and continue to searching within the 30 n. miles radius from the port.
(7) Searching is principally continued until 30 minutes before sunset, and then all boat return to theport.
At least one researcher was on board in each of all boats, and recorded information on sighting,sampling and searching effort, e.g., time and location of sighting and sampling, species and school
size sighted, and activity and cruise tracks of boat. Weather information (weather, visibility, windforce, and sea surface water temperature) was also recorded for every hour. Sightings of whales wereclassified into primary and secondary sightings. The primary sightings were those seen during
normal searching period (crew searched from the top barrel). The secondary sightings were thoseseen in out of normal searching, e.g., during closing or chasing target whales, no observer in the top
barrel, or off the research time.
Resultant cruise trucks of the sampling vessels made by the 2002 Kushiro survey and the 2003
Sanriku survey were shown in Figure 6 and 7, respectively. In Kushiro survey, the searching areas
almost covered the waters within 30 n. miles form the port in the direction of east and west, but
southern part of the offshore area was not covered. In Sanriku survey, the searching areas wereconcentrated in the southwestern part of the research area (the middle part of the Sendai Bay).

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2.4.2 Revised survey in 2004
In considerations of the results on the feasibility surveys, the searching and sampling procedure wasthought to be acceptable in terms of stomach contents collection from the coastal local area, but it
was also pointed out that some modification might be required to take in somewhat random manner
for the choice of the searching direction to avoid the concentration of the sampling areas (Kato, et al.,2004). In response to this, the searching procedure was modified in 2004 as follows:(1) The predetermined course at an angle of regular intervals (usually 10-15 degree intervals) are set
up by the head office, and allocated to the respective boat (Fig.4A). The boats start to searchfrom the port with respective course.
(2) The boats continue to search along the course until whales are captured, or boats arrive at 30 n.
miles from the port (Fig. 4B). If the boats missed the targeted whale, they resumed searchingalong the course.
(3) After arriving at 30 n. miles from the port, the boats change the course freely within a 50 n.
miles radius from the port (Fig. 4C and D).
(4) When the weather or sea state were expected to be changed to worse before arriving at 30 n.
miles from the port, then the boats changed the course freely at that point. When the weatherchanged to more badly (around 2.5m height of the waves or Beaufort 4 or more), the boats
returned to the port.
(5) The predetermined course is changed every day to cover broad areas.
Furthermore, following two types of methods were tentatively introduced.
(1) Type 1 sampling
The research area was divided into three or four sectors based on the direction from the port (Fig. 5).
One of those sectors was selected as a restricted searching area in random turn every day, and thepredetermined courses of all boats were settled within the selected sector. After all sectors weresurveyed (If the number of sectors was four, it took at least four days), type 2 sampling was started.
(2) Type 2 sampling
The searching area and the courses were determined regardless of the sectors, and settled to cover
the expected whale concentration areas, based on the information on whale distribution obtained by
the type 1 sampling survey and/or dedicated sighting survey. Weather conditions, sea status, andinformation on fishing grounds were also considered in determining the course. Type 2 sampling wasprincipally conducted for three days, and then type 1 sampling was re-started.

6

In 2004 survey off Kushiro, the combination of these two types of sampling was implemented fromthe start of the survey (13 September) to 4 October. However, difficulty in collecting the planed
sample size within the survey period was expected in early October mainly due to the bad weather
conditions such as typhoons and low atmospheric pressures. Thus, only type 2 sampling was
conducted in the remaining survey periods (5 to 31 October). Resultant cruise trucks were shown in
Figure 6. As a result, the searching areas could cover widely coastal waters within a 30 n. miles
radius from the Kushiro port as compared with those of the 2002 survey.
2.4.3 Surveys in 2005 and afterwards
In 2005 survey off Sanriku, the same methods introduced in 2004 off Kushiro were planed to be
implemented. However, it was very difficult to conduct the survey in offshore waters, especially inthe sector 2 and 3 (Fig. 5), because of changeable weather condition and bigger wave in those area
for the small boats. As a result, even though the type 1 sampling was tried to be carried out in several
times and the searching area was slightly expanded compared with the 2003 survey, most searching
had to be carried out by the type 2 sampling, and searching area was concentrated again in the
middle part of the Sendai Bay (Fig.7).
In consideration of the difficulty in collecting the planed sample size within the survey period, andbad sea status in the offshore areas, the surveys in 2005 off Kushiro, 2006 off Sanriku and afterwards
were substantially conducted by the type 2 sampling methods, and the type 1 sampling was treatedas a supplemental option, which was planed to be carried out as long as a situation allows. Resultant
cruise trucks of the Kushiro surveys in 2005 to 2007 and the Sanriku surveys in 2006 to 2007 wereshown in Figure 6 and 7, respectively. In Kushiro surveys, the type 1 sampling was not carried out,
since almost whole research area (at least within 30 n. miles form the port) could be covered by thetype 2 sampling. In Sanriku surveys, the type 1 sampling could not be conducted due to the same
reason in the 2005 survey, and the searching efforts was concentrated again in almost same areas in
the former surveys.
2.4.3 Some considerations for the searching area in the surveys off Sanriku
In the surveys off Sanriku, it was practically difficult to conduct the surveys in the whole areas
within a 30 miles radius from the port. Main reason was the bad weather and sea state for small boats
in the outside of the Sendai Bay. As a result, the searching area had to be concentrated in the Bay.
However, this point was thought to be not so large problem if taking account of the following points.
(1) Results of the dedicated sighting surveys by other large vessels in broad area indicated that
distribution of common minke whale was also concentrated in the Sendai Bay, and sparse in the7

outside. In the offshore area, the influence of the cold Oyashio current was extremely highcompared with those in the Bay, and difference of such oceanographic structures also brought
concentrated distribution of the whales in the Bay. Thus, it seems to be acceptable at least interms of stomach contents collection from the area where whales were densely seen.
(2) Searching area and sampling positions was concentrated in the waters on the continental shelf or
the areas less than 200 m water depth. This means that the samples were expected to becollected from the geographically even environment. It seems to be acceptable that thosesamples were treated as a single unit to represent one of the coastal environmental features suchas the continental shelf regions in considering the ecosystem modeling.
2.5 Sampling methods
All common minke whales sighted were targeted for sampling. Cow-calf pair was planed to be
excluded from the target, but such pairs were not sighted during the surveys. When a sighting
consisted of more than one animal, first targeted animal was selected using a random digit table.
Sampling was made by 50 mm whaling cannon. In order to avoid the vomit of stomach contentsfrom whale, and to maintain the human safety during the operations, chasing was usually limited to a
maximum of 120 minutes against one animal. Distributions of common minke whales sampled by
the respective surveys are shown in Figure 8 and 9. Locations of these samples covered almost all of
the areas searched by the boats in respective surveys.
2.6 Biological survey
All the whales sampled were biologically examined by researchers on the land station in almost thesame manner as that for the offshore component. Research items of the biological studies weresummarized in Table 3, with the number of data and samples obtained. These items were related tothe studies on feeding ecology, stock structure, life historical biology and pollution studies.
3. ADDITIONAL SIGHTING SURVEY (BY SMALL-TYPE WHALING CATCHER BOATS)In order to examine the logistic capability of the small-type whaling catcher boats for acting as thesighting research vessels, a dedicated sighting survey using the boats was tentatively carried out inthe whale sampling survey off Kushiro in 2004. During the period from 13 September to 4 October,one of four boats alternatively carried out the sighting surveys.
3.1 sighting methods
The small blocks (A to D) were established in the coastal waters within 50 n. miles from the port andsystematically designed track lines were settled in respective blocks (Fig.10). Every day, one boat
was designated as a dedicated sighting vessel, which was not engaged in sampling activity. The

8

survey largely followed the guidelines of Hammond (1986) and Hammond and Donovan (1993).
Searching was carried out at 10 knots during the day and the vessels returned to the port every night.
The vessel cruised along the predetermined cruise track using closing mode, principally closing on
primary sightings to confirm species and school size. After closing, the vessel returned to the nearest
point on track line that had not been surveyed and resumed searching. Generally, searching was only
conducted when the sea conditions were below Beaufort 3 and visibility was more than 1.5 miles.
Searching was carried out from the top barrel by two persons. Similar sighting data forms to thosedeveloped for Japanese North Pacific whale sighting cruises were completed. Weather and sea
conditions were recorded each hour. The experiments to evaluate the accuracy of estimated distances
and angles from the top barrel were carried out in the first day of the survey for each boat.
3.2 Applicability of the sighting survey by small boats
Searching effort and the number of sightings of common minke whales made by the survey are listed
in Table 4, and cruise tracks and sighting positions are shown in Fig.11. In the first period from 13 to
16 September, the survey was conducted as the exercise cruises in block B with the experiments for
estimation of sighting distances and angles. Since, there was no practical problem in conducting thesurvey, the second and third periods covered all small blocks, respectively. Total searching distancewas 641.8 n. miles, and a total of 17 schools/17 individuals of common minke whales were sighted.
The surveys could be conducted with no substantial problem. However, it was difficult to continue
the survey during the full research period due to the logistic reasons such as the difficulty incollecting the whales by remaining three boats, i.e. the shortage of the boats for acting as the
sampling vessels. The sighting survey area was also restricted in small area compared with that of
the large sized vessel due to the capability of the boats against the bad sea state. Thus, the dedicatedsighing survey using boats was suspended in the middle of the survey period. Taking account ofthese situations, it was recommend that large-scale dedicated sighting survey using large vessel was
still needed even if the small-type whaling catchers could be used as a dedicated sighting vessels insmall area.
4. OUTLINE OF THE RESPECTIVE SURVEY
Table 2 summarizes outline of the whale sampling surveys in the coastal component of JARPN II
from 2002 to 2007 season. Following are summary of procedures and results in respective survey.
Details of each survey are described in cruise reports of the JARPN II coastal component (seeReference). Cruise tracks of the respective surveys are shown in Figure 6 and 7. Distributions ofcommon minke whales sampled by the surveys are shown in Figure 8 and 9.

9

4.1 Autumn season, off Kushiro, 2002 (Kishiro, et al., 2003)
The first feasibility survey was conducted from 10 September to 12 October 2002 (33 days) in the
coastal waters off Kushiro, using three small-type whaling catcher boats. The whale sampling was
conducted in the coastal waters within a 50 n. miles radius form the Kushiro port. During the survey
period, a total of 3,522.8 n. miles (330.4 hours) was searched for whale sampling, 171 schools/ 177
individuals of common minke whales were sighted and 50 whales were sampled. The searchingareas almost covered the coastal waters within 30 n. mails form the port and sampling positions wererelatively concentrated on the continental shelf and slope in the southwestern and southeasternregions from the port. The samples were consisted of 32 males and 18 females. Major prey species
found in the stomach of those samples were Japanese anchovy, walleye pollock, Pacific saury,Japanese common squid, and Krill.
4.2 Spring season, off Sanriku, 2003 (Yoshida, et al., 2004)
The second feasibility survey was carried out from 8 April to 2 May 2003 (23 days), in coastal
waters off the Sanriku district, using four small-type whaling catcher boats. Research area was set
within 50 nautical miles from the Ayukawa port. During the survey, a total of 3,833.6 n. miles (342.9
hours) was surveyed for whale sampling, and 184 schools (188 individuals) of the common minke
whale were sighted and 50 animals were caught (21 males and 29 females). The searching was
conducted mainly in southwestern part of the research area, where occurrence of common minke
whales concentrated. Dominant prey species found from the first stomach of the animals wereJapanese sand lance and Krill.
4.3 Autumn season, off Kushiro, 2004 (Kishiro, et al., 2005)
The first survey of the revised JARPN II research plan was conducted from 13 September to 31
October 2004 (49 days) in the coastal waters off Kushiro, using four small-type whaling catcher
boats. In addition, dedicated sighting survey using one small-type whaling catcher boat was
tentatively carried out. During the survey, a total of 6,923.9 n. miles (635.4 hours) was searched forwhale sampling, 151 schools/ 156 individuals of common minke whales were sighted and 59 whales
were sampled. The searching areas covered widely coastal waters within 30 n. miles form the port.
Sampling positions were dispersed on the continental shelf and relatively concentrated in thesouthern offshore regions. The samples were consisted of 47 males and 12 females. Most dominant
prey species in the stomach was Japanese anchovy, and next dominant species was Pacific saury. The
walleye pollock, Japanese common squid, and krill were also detected.
4.4 Spring season, off Sanriku, 2005 (Yoshida, et al., 2006)
The second survey of the revised JARPN II research plan was carried out from 11 April to 21 May

10

2005 (41 days), in coastal waters of the Sanriku district, using four small-type whaling catcher boats.
Searching was conducted mainly in 30 n.miles from the Ayukawa port. During the survey, a total of5245.8 n. miles (466.9 hours) was surveyed for whale sampling, the 202 schools/ 205 individuals ofcommon minke whales were sighted, and all the 60 animals were caught (23 males and 37 females).
Dominant prey species was Japanese sand lances. Krill and Japanese anchovies were also observed,
but their occurrence frequency was much lower.
4.5 Autumn season, off Kushiro, 2005 (Kishiro, et al., 2006)
The third survey off Kushiro was conducted from 7 September to 12 October 2005 (36 days), using
four small-type whaling catcher boats. During the survey, a total of 6,653.7 n. miles (602.3 hours)
was searched for whale sampling, 144 schools/ 145 individuals of common minke whales weresighted and 60 whales were sampled. The searching areas covered almost same areas in the 2004
surveys off Kushiro, but concentration of the distribution of sampling positions was slightly shiftedto the southwestern regions. The samples were consisted of 45 males and 15 females. Most dominant
prey species in the stomach was Japanese anchovy, and next dominant species was Krill.
4.6 Spring season, off Sanriku, 2006 (Goto, et al., 2007)
The third survey off Sanriku district was conducted from 12 April to 24 May 2006 (43 days), using
four small-type whaling catcher boats. The sampling vessels tried to cover widely research areas
within 30 n. miles from Ayukawa port. In offshore waters, however, searching activity was very
difficult from changeable weather condition and bigger waves for small sampling vessels, which
resulted in more searching effort within Sendai Bay. During the survey, a total of 6340.0 n. miles(634.1 hours) was surveyed for whale sampling, the 139 schools (143 individuals) of common minke
whales were sighted, and 60 animals were caught. The samples were consisted of 26 males and 34
females. Dominant prey species was Japanese sand lance during the first half of the survey period.
However, both Japanese sand lance and Japanese anchovy were dominant during second half period.
Krill was observed from only one individual in the second half period.
4.7 Autumn season, off Kushiro, 2006 (Yoshida, et al., 2007)
The fourth survey off Kushiro was carried out from 11 September to 31 October 2006 (52 days),using four small-type whaling catcher boats. During the survey, a total of 10385.1 nautical miles(958.0 hours) was searched, 84 schools/ 85 individuals of common minke whales were detected, and
35 individuals were collected (25 males and 10 females). Most of the animals were sampled
southwest of the port. The Japanese anchovy was only one dominant prey species. The Pacific saury,walleye pollock, Japanese common squid, and krill were also detected, but their occurrence
frequency was low.

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4.8 Spring season, off Sanriku, 2007 (Bando, et al., 2008)
The fourth survey off Sanriku district was conducted from 16 April to 31 May 2007 (46 days), using
four small-type whaling catcher boats. The sampling vessels tried to cover widely research areas
within 30 n. miles from Ayukawa port. However, as same as the 2006 survey, searching activity wasvery difficult from changeable weather condition and bigger waves for small sampling vessels in
offshore waters, which resulted in more searching effort within Sendai Bay. During the survey, atotal of 7793.7 n. miles (716.5 hours) was surveyed for whale sampling, the 166 schools (171
individuals) of common minke whales were detected, and 57 animals were caught. The samples
were consisted of 21 males and 36 females. Dominant prey species was adult Japanese sand lance
and Japanese anchovy throughout survey period. Krill was observed from only one individual in thethird period.
4.9 Autumn season, off Kushiro, 2007 (Kishiro, et al., 2008)
The fifth survey off Kushiro was conducted from 10 September to 31 October 2007 (52 days), using
four small-type whaling catcher boats. During the survey, a total of 6,827.7 n. miles (637.6 hours)
was searched for whale sampling, 98 schools/ 99 individuals of common minke whales were sighted
and 50 whales were sampled. The searching areas covered almost all areas within a 30 n. miles
radius from the port. Sampling positions were slightly concentrated on the continental shelf in thesoutheastern regions. The samples were consisted of 33 males and 17 females. Most dominant preyspecies in the stomach was Japanese anchovy, and next dominant species was walleye pollock.
DISCUSSION
Searching and sampling methods implemented in the 2002-2007 coastal components of JARPN II
were different from those conducted by the offshore components, and did not follow the usual
random manner such as a line transect method with predetermined track lines due to the operational
capacity and ability of the small boats. Especially, to maintain the ability for sighting and capturing
the whales by small boats for obtaining the samples within the limited survey periods, it was difficult
to implement the systematical line transect manner for whale sampling. This means that searchingefforts of whale sampling was relatively concentrated in the waters where whales were seen.
Therefore, sighting data obtained from those boats could not be used for abundance estimation of thewhales in the surveyed area. However, it was thought to be acceptable at least in terms of collecting
the whale samples as a representative from the whale concentrated area in the restricted coastal smallarea, because all common minke whales sighted were targeted for sampling, and as a results,
locations of the samples covered almost all of the areas where whales were seen in respective
surveys. Information for estimating distribution and abundance of the whales was independently and12successfully collected by the dedicated sighting surveys with large vessels (as well as information
for the prey environments by the prey species surveys) under the other units of the coastal
component of JARPN II.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are greatly indebted to Dr. Hiroshi Hatanaka, the project leader of the full-scale JARPN
II surveys, the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), Dr. Seiji Ohsumi (ICR) and Mr. Hideki
Moronuki, the Fisheries Agency of Japan for their guidance and implementation of the research. Dr.
Hatanaka kindly reviewed the manuscript.
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43pp.

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Fig.1. Research areas of the whale sampling surveys in the coastal component of the JARPN II.

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A

B

C

D

Fig.2. Small-type whaling catcher boats used in the coastal component of the JARPN II.
A: Sumitomo Maru No. 31(31S); B: Koei Maru No.75 (75K); C: Taisho Maru No.28 (28T);
D: Katsu Maru No.7 (7K)

Fig.3. Left photo: At the port, sampled whale was lifted up from vessel by a crane, using a wire net
and transported to the station by a freight trailer. Right photo: The JARPN II research station
established in the suburbs of Kushiro for biological examination.

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Fig.4. Schematic diagram of the manner of searching for whale sampling in the research area inthe coastal component of the JARPN II conducted in 2004 and afterwards. Arrows with letters ‘a’to ‘d’ indicate examples of the movements of respective small-type whaling catcher boat.

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Fig.5. Allocation of the sectors for type 1 whale sampling in the coastal component of the
JARPN II.

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Fig.6. Cruise tracks of the whale sampling surveys in the coastal component off Kushiro in2002 to 2007.

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Fig.7. Cruise tracks of the whale sampling surveys in the coastal component off Sanriku
in 2003 to 2007.

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Fig.8. Distributions of common minke whales sampled by the coastal component off Kushiro
in 2002 to 2007.

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Fig.9. Distributions of common minke whales sampled by the coastal component off Sanriku
in 2003 to 2007.

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Fig.10. Survey blocks and example of the planed track lines for the dedicated sighting survey bysmall-type whaling catcher boats in the 2004 coastal component off Kushiro.

Fig.11. Cruise tracks with searching effort and sighting positions of common minke whales from thededicated sighting survey by small-type whaling catcher boats in the 2004 coastal component
off Kushiro.

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