Technical Reports of the Ins�tute of Cetacean Research (2021)

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International meetingsPar�cipa�on of scien�sts from the Ins�tute of Cetacean Research inInterna�onal Mee�ngs in 2021
Annual mee�ng of the Interna�onal Whaling
Commission Scien�ﬁc Commi�ee (IWC SC)
The Interna�onal Whaling Commission (IWC) is an interna�onal body set up by the terms of the Interna�onal
Conven�on for the Regula�on of Whaling (ICRW), which
was signed in Washington, D.C., United States, on 2 December 1946, to ʻprovide for the proper conserva�on ofwhale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry.ʼ One of the important
subsidiary bodies of the IWC is its Scien�ﬁc Commi�ee(SC), which meets annually.
Originally, the 2021 mee�ng of the IWC SC was planned
for Bled, Slovenia, between 27 April and 9 May (SC68C).
The in-person mee�ng was cancelled due to the Covid-19
pandemic. Instead, the mee�ng was carried out througha series of virtual sessions between 27 April and 14 May.
A total of twelve scien�sts from the Ins�tute of Cetacean
Research (ICR) par�cipated in the mee�ng as observers
from Japan (Fujise, Kato, Pastene, Tamura, Matsuoka,Hakamada, Taguchi, Konishi, Goto, Isoda, Takahashi andKatsumata). They presented a total of 10 documents:
six documents at the Standing Working Group on Abundance Es�mates, Stock Status and Interna�onal Cruises(ASI), one document at the Working Group on StockDeﬁni�on and DNA tes�ng (SDDNA), one document atthe Sub-Commi�ee on Conserva�on Management Plans(CMP) and two general documents (O: PICES Observer
Report and Japanʼs Scien�ﬁc Progress Reports).
The report of the IWC SC mee�ng can be found on thewebsite of the IWC (h�ps://iwc.int/home).
ICR scien�sts also par�cipated in the mee�ng of theʻIWC-POWER Technical Advisory Group (TAG)ʼ and theʻPlanning Mee�ng for the 2021 IWC-POWER Cruise,ʼ held
online from 9 to 10 November, 2020. Another online
mee�ng was held on 21 April 2021 to discuss the eﬀectof the Covid-19 pandemic on the logis�cal aspects of the2021 IWC-POWER survey. Kato, Matsuoka and Takahashi
from the ICR par�cipated in these mee�ngs. The report ofthese mee�ngs can be found on the website of the IWC(h�ps://iwc.int/home).

Annual mee�ng of the Conven�on on the Conserva�on of Antarc�c Marine Living ResourcesWorking Group on Ecosystem Monitoring andManagement (CCAMLR-EMM)
The Conven�on on the Conserva�on of Antarc�c MarineLiving Resources (CCAMLR) is part of the Antarc�c Treaty
System. The Conven�on was opened for signature on
1 August 1980 and entered into force on 7 April 1982,
thereby establishing the Commission for the Conserva�on of Antarc�c Marine Living Resources. Its goal is topreserve marine life and environmental integrity in andnear Antarc�ca. 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 popula�ons of other marine life, which are dependent uponkrill for food. The CCAMLR has a Scien�ﬁc Commi�eeand several Working Groups. One of these is the Working Group on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management(EMM), which meets annually.
The in-person mee�ng of the EMM Working Groupwas cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, anonline mee�ng was held between 5 and 12 July, 2021.
The main items on the mee�ng agenda were: Krill Management including risk analyses, Spa�al Managementand Climate Change. Under the risk analyses approach,several papers on distribu�on, abundance and prey consump�on of whales in western Antarc�c were presented.
Three scien�sts from the ICR par�cipated in the mee�ng(Pastene, Isoda and Katsumata).
The report of the e-mail group discussion can be foundon the website of the CCAMLR (h�ps://www.ccamlr.
org/).

Annual mee�ng of the North Atlan�c Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO) Scien�ﬁcCommi�ee (SC)The North Atlan�c Marine Mammal Commission(NAMMCO) is an interna�onal body for coopera�on onthe conserva�on, management and study of marine
mammals in the North Atlan�c. The NAMMCO Agreement was signed in Nuuk, Greenland on 9 April 1992 byNorway, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, andentered into force on 8 July 1992. The agreement focuseson modern approaches to the study of the marine eco73

Technical Reports of the Ins�tute of Cetacean Research (2021)

Scien�sts from the ICR par�cipa�ng in the online mee�ng of the NAMMCO Scien�ﬁc Commi�ee (25–29 January 2021).

system as a whole, and to be�er understanding the roleof marine mammals in the ecosystem. NAMMCO has aScien�ﬁc Commi�ee (SC), which meets annually.
The 2020 NAMMCO SC mee�ng was held online
between 25 and 29 January 2021. The in-person meeting was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Fourscien�sts from ICR par�cipated in the mee�ng (Pastene,Konishi, Inoue and Takahashi) as observers from Japan.
They presented the following documents: the 2019–2020
Japan progress report on large cetacean research, the2018–2019 Japan progress report on small cetacean
research, and the 2019–2020 report on satellite tagging
experiments at the Ins�tute of Cetacean Research. The
report of the mee�ng can be found in the website ofNAMMCO (h�ps://nammco.no/).

NAMMCO-Japan MINTAG project mee�ng
NAMMCO and Japan have agreed on a collabora�ve
project to develop a new satellite tag suited for use on
fast-swimming baleen whales which are of most interest
to NAMMCO countries and Japan. The project is called
ʻMiniature Tagʼ or MINTAG project. The project started in
2021 and will run for ﬁve years. The project is divided intophases: development phase, tes�ng phase, deploymentdata collec�on-analyses phase, and publica�on-ﬁnal repor�ng- workshop phase. The project is led by a SteeringGroup composed of scien�sts from NAMMCO countries
and Japan, the Secretariat of NAMMCO and the Fisheries
Agency of Japan (FAJ).
The ﬁrst organiza�onal mee�ng of the MINTAG Steering Group was held online on 4 August 2021. The main
topics of the mee�ng were the tender material for tags,
web blog and the schedule for the project. Two scien�sts from the Ins�tute of Cetacean Research (Pasteneand Konishi), and one member from the FAJ (Moronuki)
74par�cipated in the mee�ng as members of the SteeringGroup.

Annual mee�ng of the North Paciﬁc Marine
Science Organiza�on (PICES)The North Paciﬁc Marine Science Organiza�on (PICES) isan intergovernmental science organiza�on established in1992. It aims to promote and coordinate marine scien�ﬁcresearch in the North Paciﬁc Ocean and its adjacent seas,
and to provide a mechanism for informa�on and dataexchange among scien�sts in its member countries. Itspresent members are Canada, Japan, People's Republic ofChina, Republic of Korea, the Russian Federa�on, and theUnited States of America.
The 2021 mee�ng of the PICES was originally plannedfor Qingdao, China. The in-person mee�ng was cancelled
due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, the mee�ng washeld online between 18 and 29 October. The businessmee�ng of the Marine Bird and Mammals (S-MBM) sec�on was held on 30 September. One scien�st from ICR
par�cipated in the mee�ng (Tamura) introducing the observer report of IWC/SC mee�ng. The report of the PICES
mee�ng can be found in the website of PICES (h�ps://mee�ngs.pices.int/).
The Annual Science Conference of the Interna�onal
Council for the Explora�on of the Sea (ICES) was held
online between 6 and 10 September 2021. The joint
ICES/PICES session on top predators, food webs, andecosystem-based ﬁsheries management was held on 10September. One scien�st from ICR par�cipated in thissession (Tamura). He presented the study �tled ʻEs�ma�on of prey consump�on by marine mammals in thePICES regions —Update to Hunt et al. (2000)—ʼ.

Participation of scientists from the Institute of Cetacean Research in International Meetings in 2021by Ten, Konishi, Nakai, Raga, Pastene and Aznar, was presented at the symposium as an oral presenta�on.

Conference 2021/UK&Ireland Regional StudentChapter

A scien�st from the ICR giving a presenta�on at the joint ICES/PICES session of the online ICES Annual Science Conference.

48th Annual Symposium of the European Associa�on for Aqua�c Mammals
The 48th Annual Symposium of the European Associa�onfor Aqua�c Mammals was held online between 11 and
13 March 2021. The study �tled ʻEpibio�c macrofaunaof Antarc�c minke whale, Balaenoptera bonaerensis
Burmeister, 1867, in the Southern Ocean,ʼ co-authoredThis conference, organized by the Sea Mammal ResearchUnit, University of St. Andrews, was held online between
23 and 25 June 2021. The study �tled ʻThe epibiont
Xenobalanus globicipitis as a mul�faceted indicator ofcetacean biology: a review,ʼ co-authored by Ten, Konishi,
Raga, Fernandez, Pastene and Aznar, was presented at
the conference as a poster presenta�on.

XXIV Biennial of the Real Sociedad Española deHistoria Natural
This biennial was held between 8 and 10 September 2021
in Valencia, Spain. The study �tled ʻXenobalanus globicipitis: un crustaceo epibionte possible indicador de migraciones de ballenas,ʼ co-authored by Ten, Konishi, Nakai,
Raga, Pastene and Aznar, was presented at the biennial
as an oral presenta�on.

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