Technical Reports of the Institute of Cetacean Research (2018)

pp. 79–80

International meetings

Participation of scientists of the Institute of Cetacean Research inInternational Meetings in 2018
Annual meeting of the International Whaling
Commission Scientiﬁc Committee (IWC SC)
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is an international body set up by the terms of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW), which was signed
in Washington, D.C., United States, on 2 December, 1946 toʻprovide for the proper conservation of whale stocks andthus make possible the orderly development of the whalingindustry.ʼ One of the important components of the IWC isthe Scientiﬁc Committee (SC), which meets annually.
The 2018 meeting of the IWC SC was held at the Rikli
Balance Hotel, Bled, Slovenia, from 21 April to 6 May. Atotal of ten scientists from the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) participated in the meeting (Fujise, Kato, Pastene, Tamura, Matsuoka, Goto, Yasunaga, Konishi, Taguchi
and Inoue). They presented seven documents at plenary
sessions, nine documents at the Ad hoc Working Groupon Abundance Estimates, Stock Status and International
Cruises, one document at the Working Group on Ecosystem Modelling, two documents at the Working Group on
Stock Deﬁnition and DNA Testing, one document at theSub-Committee on Northern Hemisphere Whale Stocks,
and one document at the Sub-Committee on Other Southern Hemisphere Whale Stocks.

Paciﬁc Brydeʼs whales, held at the FAJʼs Crew House, Tokyo,
Japan from 14-16 February (Pastene, Hakamada and Inoue);c) Fourth workshop on large whale entanglement issues,
held at the Center for Coastal Studies, Provincetown, USAfrom 5-7 June (Kato and Matsuoka); d) TAG and Planning
Meetings for the 2019 IWC-POWER Cruises in the North Paciﬁc, held at the FAJʼs Crew House, Tokyo, Japan from 12-16
October (Kato, Matsuoka, Hakamada and Takahashi).

Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the SouthernOcean 2018 (MEASO18)—Assessing Status andTrends of Habitats, Key Species and Ecosystems
in the Southern Ocean
The MEASO18 was held at the C3 Convention Center,Hobart, Australia from 9-13 April. One scientist fromICR participated in the meeting (Pastene). He presented
a document titled ʻSite-ﬁdelity, movement ranges andabundance of southern right whales in the Antarctic Indoregion inferred from genetic tagging.ʼ The presentation
was made under Theme 1 of MEASO18, ʻAssessment.ʼ

C3 Convention Center, Hobart, Australia.

Rikli Balance Hotel, Bled, Slovenia.

In 2018, ICR scientists also participated in several intersessional meetings of the IWC SC: a) Workshop on Western
North Paciﬁc common minke whale stock structure in preparation for the start of the Implementation Review, held at theFisheries Agency of Japan (FAJ)ʼs Crew House, Tokyo, Japan,
from 12-13 February (Pastene, Goto, Taguchi and Inoue); b)
Second Implementation Review Workshop on western North

Annual meeting of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources—Working Group on Ecosystem Monitoring andManagement (CCAMLR-EMM)
The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine
Living Resources (CCAMLR) is part of the Antarctic Treaty
System. The Convention was opened for signature on
1 August 1980 and entered into force on 7 April 1982
thereby establishing the Commission for the Conservationof Antarctic Marine Living Resources. The goal is to preserve marine life and environmental integrity in and near79

Technical Reports of the Institute of Cetacean Research (2018)

Antarctica. It was established in large part in response toconcerns that an increase in krill catches in the Southern
Ocean could have a serious impact on populations of othermarine life which are dependent upon krill for food. TheCCAMLR has a Scientiﬁc Committee and several Working
Groups including the Working Group on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management (EMM), which meet annually.
The 2018 meeting of the CCAMLR-EMM was held at
the British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK from 9-13
July. One scientist from ICR participated in the meeting(Pastene). He presented a document titled ʻPopulation
identity, site-ﬁdelity, movement ranges and preliminary
estimates of abundance of southern right whales in theAntarctic Indian sector inferred from genetic marker.ʼ The
presentation was made under the agenda item ʻEcosystem monitoring and observations.ʼ

British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK.

Annual meeting of the North Paciﬁc Marine Science Organization (PICES)The North Paciﬁc Marine Science Organization (PICES) isan intergovernmental organization that promotes andcoordinates marine scientiﬁc research in the North Paciﬁc
Ocean and provides a mechanism for information anddata exchange among scientists in its member countries.
The 2018 meeting of the PICES was held at the Workpia
Yokohama Convention Facility, Yokohama, Japan from 25
October-4 November. One scientist from ICR participated inthe meeting (Tamura). He presented the study titled ʻEstimation of prey consumption by marine mammals in the PICES
regions-Update to Hunt et al. (2000)ʼ as an oral presentation
at the session ʻDiets, consumption, and abundance of marine birds and mammals in the North Paciﬁc.ʼ He was also
co-author of another study titled ʻSpatial estimation of prey
consumption by Brydeʼs whales in the western North Paciﬁcduring the summers of 2008-2009: Density surface model
approach,ʼ that was also presented to the meeting.

80Workpia Yokohama Convention Facility, Yokohama, Japan.

Annual meeting of the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO) ScientiﬁcCommittee (SC)The North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission(NAMMCO) is an international body for cooperation on
the conservation, management and study of marine
mammals in the North Atlantic. The NAMMCO Agreement
was signed in Nuuk, Greenland on 9 April 1992 by Norway,Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, and enteredinto force 90 days later on 8 July 1992. The agreement
focuses on modern approaches to the study of the marine
ecosystem as a whole, and to better understanding therole of marine mammals in the ecosystem. NAMMCO hasa Scientiﬁc Committee (SC) which meets annually.
The 2018 NAMMCO SC meeting was held on board theMS Polarlys, between Bergen and Tromsø, Norway from
13-16 November. Three scientists from ICR participated in
the meeting (Pastene, Konishi and Takahashi) as observers
from Japan. They presented the 2016-2018 Japan progress
report on cetacean research as well a presentation on thewhaleʼs satellite tracking work by the ICR.

MS Polarlys, Norway.