JA/J05/JR1

Review of JARPA research objectives and update of the work
related to JARPA tasks derived from the 1997 SC meeting
Hiroshi Hatanaka, Yoshihiro Fujise, Luis A. Pastene and Seiji Ohsumi
The Institute of Cetacean Research,
4-5 Toyomi-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0055, Japan

ABSTRACTThe Government of Japan has been conducting the JARPA survey since the 1987/88
austral summer season under the Article VIII of the International Convention forRegulation of Whaling, as a long-term project. The last survey of the JARPA will becompleted in the 2004/05 season. With the progress of the JARPA, the objectives of the
project evolved from two in the original plan to four after the 1995/96 season. These
additional objectives were not an alteration of the original plan, but rather were adevelopment from the original plan. The basic survey methodologies have been
maintained through the JARPA surveys. The IWC Scientific Committee (SC) held amidterm workshop to review JARPA data and results in 1997. During its 1997 meeting,
the SC discussed the report of the workshop and identified several future tasks to beaddressed in the program. A reasonable progress has been made on most of these tasks.
INTRODUCTION
The Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit (JARPA) was started in
1987/88 under a special permit issued by the Government of Japan based on the Article
VIII of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW). JARPA is along-term research program and will be completed at the 2004/05 season.
Two pillars of objectives were created for the JARPA project in 1987 (Government ofJapan, 1987a), and they have evolved since then. The development of these objectives

1was described by Ohsumi (1997). This paper review briefly the objectives of JARPA
project based mainly on Ohsumi (1997).
At the midpoint of the JARPA, the IWC Scientific Committee (SC) held a workshop to
review data and results from JARPA in May 1997 (IWC, 1998a). During the 1997 SC
Meeting, results of the workshop were discussed and several tasks were identified toaddress outstanding issues (IWC, 1998b). An update of these tasks is briefly made inthis paper.
BACKGROUND OF THE JARPA PROJECT
Major disputes had continued in the SC during years from late 1970s to middle 1980s
over the certainty of biological knowledge and research methods of whale populations.
The IWC adopted the moratorium of the commercial whaling, which came into effectfrom the 1985/86 season, at the 34th Annual Meeting in 1982 based on the alleged
grounds that the scientific knowledge was uncertain and therefore an effective
management was not possible. However the SC did not recommend such a moratorium.
Every member country of ICRW should have a duty to undertake scientific research inorder to achieve the objectives of ICRW which are to “ensure proper conservation andoptimum utilization of the great natural and renewable resources represented by whale
stocks”. However, the enforcement of the moratorium on the commercial whaling lostthe opportunity to collect data for the review of the decision, although countries whith
interest in the resumption of whaling must gather scientific information based on new
researches to dissolve the uncertainty which was the base of the moratorium decision(Nagasaki, 1995). The employment of lethal method is essential to collect data andmaterials from whale resources as examined by Ohsumi (1995) for such work.
The JARPA project was planned to collect data and materials for increasing thescientific knowledge which would solve the uncertainty problems, which were used tojustify the moratorium of commercial whaling.
THE ORIGINAL OBJECTIVES OF THE JARPA
Two original research objectives were defined in the JARPA project, which were
submitted as Document SC/39/O4 (Government of Japan, 1987a) to the 1987 SC

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Meeting (IWC, 1988a). They are:
Objective 1. Estimation of biological parameters to improve the stock management of
the Southern Hemisphere minke whale;
Objective 2. Elucidation of the role of whales in the Antarctic marine ecosystem.
The Antarctic minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) was selected as the target
species for the Objective 1 because it was the most abundant whale species in the world.
It is also the most likely target species of future commercial whaling. Because the large
abundance of this species, no negative impact on the stocks was expected fromscientific catches.
The main reason for the failure of the SC to recommend an agreed catch limit in 1980s
for the Antarctic minke whale stock was that its members were not able to reachagreement on the value of natural mortality coefficient and its age-specific patterns.
Considering such background, the Objective 1 was set up to estimate the age-specificnatural mortality coefficient through stochastic sampling, which was carried out incombination with systematic sighting surveys. The program was also designed toestimate the stochastic changes in stock size required for stock management, and the
reproductive parameters and their changes based on the same samples (Government ofJapan, 1987a).
The reason for the establishment of Objective 2 was based on the consideration that themost important need to understand the Antarctic ecosystem was the collection of data on
the prey-predator relationship among krill, fish, squid and whales. The global scientificinterest in the Antarctic ecosystem has been growing, as reflected in the creation of theConvention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).
The plan of original research program was submitted and reviewed during the 1987 SC
Annual Meeting (IWC, 1988b).
A special meeting of the SC was held to consider the feasibility surveys of JARPA. At
the meeting, Japan submitted Document SC/D87/1 to conduct a preliminary research in
1987/88 to test the feasibility of the original plan (Government of Japan, 1987b). The
Government of Japan decided to conduct the feasibility study in Area IV in 1987/88 and3

in Area V in 1988/89 (Government of Japan, 1988).
START AND CONTINUATION OF THE FULL-SCALE JARPA SURVEY
After through examination of results from two feasibility studies, the following
improvement of the original plan was made for the full-scale survey in 1989/90,
although the two original objectives were kept:(1) To include monitoring of recruitment among the main subjects of the study;(2) To short the interval between the sampling years;(3) To conduct surveys using the line transect method.
This research plan was submitted to the 1989 SC Annual Meeting (Government ofJapan, 1989). Thus, the full-scale JARPA survey had been conducted with two
research objectives, from the 1989/90 to 1994/95 (Government of Japan, 1989; 1990;
1991; 1992; 1993 and 1994).
The IWC Scientific Committee completed the Revised Management Procedure (RMP)
in 1992. The RMP was different from population dynamics models used by the SC
previously. Japanese scientists re-considered whether or not the first objective should
be modified. Biological parameters were still being useful to understand the
population dynamics of minke whales (e.g. pregnancy rate and age at maturity), andtherefore important for the management of whale resources. Further, there was somepossibility to estimate MSYR based on catch at age data, which is an importantparameter for the RMP. Biological parameters were useful for the elucidation of stock
structure as biological markers.
For these reasons, the Government decided tomaintain. the objective 1.
DEVELOPMENT OF RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The third objective of JARPA was added in 1995/96 (Government of Japan, 1995), in
response to the Commission’s resolution regarding to environment and pollution(Resolution on research on environment change and whale stocks in 1994 andResolution on promotion of research related to conservation of large whale stocks in theSouthern Ocean in 1994).

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This third objective was:
Objective 3. Elucidation of the effect of environmental change on cetaceans.
The Objective 3 had been already included in the original Objective 2 in previous
surveys, so that the Objective 3 should be regarded as a ramification from the Objective2.
The 1996/97 research plan of the JARPA established a fourth objective (Government ofJapan, 1996). It is as follows:
Objective 4. Elucidation of the stock structure of the Southern Hemisphere minke
whales to improve stock management.
This objective was already included in the original Objective 1, from the beginning of
the JARPA project (Government of Japan, 1987a) and samples for this purpose werecollected from the start of the JARPA. However, with the development of the JARPA
survey, this part had become gradually important and suitable to be established as anindependent objective. The identification of biological stock including the definition of
the range of distribution of a whale stock in Areas IV and V was important for theestimation of biological parameters of the minke whales. The Objective 4 was also
important for the application of Revised Management Procedure (RMP) to the Antarctic
minke whales.
Since the 1996/97 season, the four objectives has been kept unchanged (Government ofJapan, 1997; 1998b; 1999; 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003 and 2004).
Thus, a development of objectives has occurred during the long-term research program.
The basic methodology has been the same along all research surveys.
WORK TO ADDRESS OUTSTANDING ISSUESThe SC identified future work to address outstanding issues of JARPA during the 1997
Annual meeting (IWC, 1998b). The rest of this document deals with the progress madeon these tasks by Japanese scientists.

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The list of future tasks was as follow (IWC, 1998b):
1. Abundance estimate(i) Development method to correct bias of abundance estimate
2. Stock structure(i) Stock definition(ii) Statistical analysis of mtDNA data considering the inclusion of school size asa covariate(iii) Pilot study on nuclear DNA analysis on JARPA minke samples(iv) Effort to obtain biological materials for genetic analysis from low latitude
areas of the Southern Hemisphere(v) External morphology/morphometry analysis(vi) Examination of possible stock boundaries (geographical and temporal) in
Areas IV and V
3. Biological parameters(i) Segregation study(ii) Recalculation of biological parameters by biological stocks
4. Marine ecosystem and environmental change(i) Meso-scale survey plan
At the 50th and 51st IWC/SC meetings, progress made in each of these tasks waspresented (Government of Japan, 1998a; Fujise and Ohsumi, 1999). Since then further
progress has been achieved.
Task 1 (i) (Bias in abundance estimates)
Plan and progress on this work have already been presented to previous SC meetings(Clarke and Borchers, 1997; Clarke et al., 1998).
Task 1 (i) has been addressed by a co-operative study between ICR and St. Andrew
University. Sighting data obtained by JARPA has been analyzed using Spatial
Modelling (Hedley et al., 1999). Results of the analysis for Area IV were presented to
the 2003 SC Meeting (Marques et al., 2003). Results of the analysis for Area V were
presented to the Pre-JARPA Review Meeting (Burt et al., 2005). This task was also
addressed by Hakamada et al. (2001) using standard methodology and updated byHakamada et al. (2005).

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Task 2 (i) (Stock definition)
During the 1997 meeting the IWC/SC agreed that the lack of the working definition ofstocks and sub-stocks is a general problem, not for JARPA alone, and therefore, needs tobe addressed by the Committee (IWC, 1998). The Committee has established a Working
Group on Stock Definition, where this particular topic is discussed annually. However,
the Committee has not reached an agreement on the definition of stocks for
management purpose.
Task 2 (ii) (School size as covariate in mtDNA analysis)
Analyses considering the inclusion of school sizes as a covariate in the mtDNA survey
were carried out. Results were presented and discussed during the 1999 SC meeting(IWC, 2000). No significant differences were found in haplotype frequencies among
school sizes.
Task 2 (iii) (Nuclear DNA)A pilot study to investigate the utility of nuclear DNA markers (microsatellites) for
studies on stock identity was presented to the 1999 SC meeting (Abe et al., 1999).
Subsequently microsatellite analysis has been conducted as routine. Currently all
samples taken by JARPA have been examined with a set of six microsatellites (Pastene
et al., 2005).
Task 2 (iv) (Sample from low latitude)
Results of a survey of biological material of minke whales from low latitude institutionsof the Southern Hemisphere were presented to the 1996 SC meeting. According to thoseresults, apart from the Brazil region, no other comprehensive material of the Antarctic
minke whale was available from other low latitude regions. Of interest for the JARPA is
the material from low latitude areas of the eastern and western side of the Indian Ocean
and the western side of the South Pacific Ocean. After further searching, we learnt of acollection of samples of the minke whales taken in Durban, South African (western partof the Indian Ocean). It was confirmed to us the occurrence of about 200 samples ofbaleen plates, which have been stored in formaline for several years. We are still7

discussing on the best ways to examine such material.
Task 2 (v) (Morphology/morphometric analyses)
Morphometric analysis on stock structure was conducted using all samples taken by the
JARPA (Pastene et al., 2005).
Task 2 (vi) (Stock boundaries)
Results of the stock structure analysis conducted under the JARPA identified two
biological stocks in the research area. A boundary for management purpose wasproposed at 165°E.
Task 3(i) (Segregation study)
A study on segregation was conducted in the context of the distribution pattern of minke
whales in relation to pack ice edge. Results were reported to the 1999 SC meeting(Fujise et al., 1999).
Task 3 (ii) (Estimation of BP by stock)
Estimations of several biological parameters were conducted by biological stocks(Bando et al., 2005).
Task 4 (i) (Meso-scale survey plan)
Feasibility studies using modern equipment for oceanographic and ecological surveys
were planned since the 1998/99 JARPA survey. These equipments included XCTD and
CTD (or XBT) for recording vertical thermal and salinity distributions, echo sounding
system for examining of the distribution of prey species (such as krill), and EPCS
(Electric Particle Counting and Sizing System) for examining the distribution ofchlorophyll. Oceanographic surveys have been continued and analyses of these data
have been recently completed (Murase et al., 2005a;2005b). Also specificoceanographic surveys at a meso-scale are being planned to investigate environment of
whales by using the research vessel Kaiyo Maru.

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