Technical Reports of the Institute of Cetacean Research (2017)

pp. 77–79

International meetings

Participation of Scientists of the Institute of Cetacean Research inInternational Meetings in 2017
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 to ʻprovide for the proper conservation ofwhale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry.ʼ One of the importantcomponents of the IWC is the Scientiﬁc Committee (SC),which meets annually. The 2017 meeting of the IWC SC
was held at the Golf Hotel, Bled, Slovenia, from 9–21 May.
A total of ten scientists from the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) participated in the meeting (Yoshihiro Fujise,
Luis A. Pastene, Tsutomu Tamura, Koji Matsuoka, Mutsuo
Goto, Takashi Hakamada, Genta Yasunaga, Kenji Konishi,
Tatsuya Isoda and Mioko Taguchi), who presented eight
documents at plenary sessions, one document at theSub-Committee on Revised Management Procedure, ﬁve
documents at the Ad hoc Working Group on Abundance
Estimates, Stock Status and International Cruises, twodocuments at the Working Group on Ecosystem Modelling, two documents at the Working Group on StockDeﬁnition and DNA Testing, one document at the SubCommittee on In-Depth Assessments, and two at the SubCommittee on Conservation Management Plans.

Hotel Golf, Bled, Slovenia.

In 2017 ICR scientists also participated in several
intersessional meetings of the IWC SC: a) Review Workshop for the New Scientiﬁc Whale Research Programin the western North Paciﬁc (NEWREP-NP), held at theToyomi Center Building, Tokyo, Japan, from 30 January-3 February (Seiji Ohsumi, Yoshihiro Fujise, Luis A.
Pastene, Tsutomu Tamura, Koji Matsuoka, Mutsuo Goto,Takeharu Bando, Takashi Hakamada, Genta Yasunaga,
Satoko Inoue, Mioko Taguchi and Megumi Takahashi);b) Workshop on the Implementation Review of western
North Paciﬁc Brydeʼs Whales held at the Fisheries Agencyof Japan (FAJ)ʼs Sanban-cho, Tokyo, Japan from 21–24
March (Luis A. Pastene, Tsutomu Tamura, Mutsuo Goto,
Mioko Taguchi, Takashi Hakamada and Koji Matsuoka); c)
Workshop on the Comprehensive Assessment of NorthPaciﬁc Humpback Whales held at the Marine Mammal
Laboratory, Seattle, USA from 18–21 April (Koji Matsuoka); d) Planning Meeting for the 2018 and 2019 IWCPOWER Cruises in the North Paciﬁc held at the FAJʼs Crew
House, Tokyo, Japan from 15–18 October (Koji Matsuokaand Takashi Hakamada).

Annual meeting of the Convention on theConservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources—Working Group on Ecosystem Monitoringand Management (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 Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. The goal is topreserve marine life and environmental integrity in andnear Antarctica. It was established in large part in response to concerns that an increase in krill catches in theSouthern Ocean could have a serious impact on populations of other marine life which are dependent upon krillfor food. The CCAMLR has a Scientiﬁc Committee andseveral Working Groups including the Working Group on
Ecosystem Monitoring and Management (EMM), whichmeet annually. The 2017 meeting of the CCAMLR-EMM
was held at the Palacio San Martin, Buenos Aires, Argentina from 10–14 July. One scientist from ICR participatedin the meeting (Tsutomu Tamura) presenting a document
titled ʻFeeding habits and prey consumption of Antarctic
minke whale Balaenoptera bonaerensis in the IndoPaciﬁc region of the Southern Oceanʼ relevant to themeeting agenda item ʻEcological interactions: predators.ʼ

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Technical Reports of the Institute of Cetacean Research (2017)

Annual meeting of the North Paciﬁc Marine Science Organization (PICES)

Palacio San Martin, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

XIIth Scientiﬁc Committee for Antarctic Research(SCAR) Biology Symposium
The Scientiﬁc Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is
an interdisciplinary body of the International Council forScience (ICSU). It was established in February 1958. SCAR
is charged with initiating, developing and coordinating
scientiﬁc research in the Antarctic region. The scientiﬁcbusiness of SCAR is conducted by its Standing Scientiﬁc
Groups. SCAR also provides scientiﬁc advice to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings and other organizations on issues of science and conservation aﬀecting themanagement of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. TheXIIth SCAR Biology Symposium was held at the Universityof Leuven, Leuven, Belgium from 10–14 July 2017. One
scientist from ICR participated in the meeting (Luis A.
Pastene) who presented the study titled ʻCetacean as
indicators of historical and current changes in the Antarctic ecosystemʼ as an oral presentation at the session
ʻDistribution and trends of top predators.ʼ He was also coauthor of the study titled ʻChanges in circumpolar spatial
distribution of baleen whales in the Antarctic from 1980sto 2000s,ʼ which was presented as a poster at the sessionʻLarge scale analyses of spatial diversity pattern.ʼ

Leuven University, Leuven, Belgium.
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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 informationand data exchange among scientists in its member countries. The 2017 meeting of the PICES was held at the Far
Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia from 22
September-1 October. One scientist from ICR participatedin the meeting (Tsutomu Tamura) presenting the study titled ʻEstimation of prey consumption by cetaceans in thewestern North Paciﬁc-Update of Hunt et al. (2000)ʼ as anoral presentation at the session ʻSeasonal and climatic inﬂuences on prey consumption by marine birds, mammals
and predatory ﬁshes.ʼ He was also co-author of anotherstudy titled ʻSpatial estimation of prey consumption by
sei whales in the western North Paciﬁc during the summers of 2008–2009: Density surface model approach,ʼ
also presented to the meeting.

Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia.

22nd Biennial Meeting of the Society for Marine
Mammalogy (SMM)
The Society for Marine Mammalogy (SMM) was founded
in 1981 and is the largest international association ofmarine mammal scientists in the world. The mission ofthe SMM is to promote the global advancement of marine mammal science and contribute to its relevance andimpact in education, conservation and management. The
22nd Biennial meeting of the SMM was held at the Halifax
World Trade and Convention Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia,
Canada from 23–27 October 2017. One scientist from ICR
participated in the meeting (Kenji Konishi) presenting thestudy ʻMovements of satellite monitored Antarctic minke
whales inside and along the ice edge at the feeding areain the Paciﬁc sector of the Antarctic Circle,ʼ as a poster at

Participation of scientists of the Institute of Cetacean Research in International Meetings in 2017

the session ʻHabitat and Distribution.ʼ He and other ICR
members were co-authors of another study titled ʻEstimation of feeding records in pregnant Antarctic minke
whales using stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen of baleens,ʼ which was also presented as a poster.

ment was signed in Nuuk, Greenland on 9 April 1992
by Norway, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands,
and entered into force 90 days later on 8 July 1992. Theagreement focuses on modern approaches to the studyof the marine ecosystem as a whole, and to better understanding the role of marine mammals in the ecosystem.
NAMMCO has a Scientiﬁc Committee (SC) which meetsannually. The 2017 NAMMCO SC meeting was held atthe Marine Research Institute, Reykjavik, Iceland from
14–17 November. One scientist from ICR participated inthe meeting (Genta Yasunaga) as an observer for Japanand presented the Japan progress report on cetacean
research in 2016.

Halifax World Trade and Convention Centre, Halifax, Nova
Scotia, Canada.

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 Agree-Marine Research Institute, Reykjavik, Iceland.

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