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Outline of the New Scientific Whale Research Program in the western North Pacific (NEWREP-NP)
•What is NEWREP-NP? •Objectives •Planned sample numbers •Research area/Sample numbers •Further reading
What is NEWREP-NP?
The main research objectives of NEWREP-NP are the contribution to optimizing the establishment of a sustainable catch limit for common minke whales in the coastal waters of Japan and to collect the necessary information for calculating appropriate catch limits for sei whales in the offshore waters.
This research program is expected to contribute to the accuracy improvement of the catch limit calculation by collecting information on special stock structure which is applied to the Revised Management Procedure (RMP), and biological parameters such as sexual maturity and age.
The research period is 12 years and a midterm assessment review will be conducted after the first six years.
NEWREP-NP will strengthen cooperation with external research institutes, including non-lethal research, such as satellite tagging, biopsy sampling and sighting surveys.
Objectives
I. Contribution to optimizing the establishment of a sustainable catch limit for common minke whales in the coastal waters of Japan (Refinement of the catch limit calculation by the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC SC)).
II. Contribution to the Revised Management Procedure Implementation Simulation Trials* for North Pacific sei whale (No catch limit has been calculated on North Pacific sei whale so far by the IWC SC).
(*) In order to calculate future catch limits, the Revised Management Procedure (RMP) will be used. The RMP is the IWC's agreed mechanism to calculate sustainable catch limits for commercial whaling. The Implementation Simulation Trial (IST) is an application test of RMP using simulations (experiment under various conditions).
Planned sample numbers
1. Common minke whales (coastal and offshore waters)
Annual sample size (coastal waters): 47 animals (Abashiri coastal area; for the first 6 years of the whole research period. Sample size for the second half of the 12 year research period will be estimated based on the results of the first half).
Annual sample size (Pacific coastal area): 80 animals.
Annual sample size (offshore waters): 43 animals.
2. North Pacific sei whales (offshore waters)
Annual sample size: 134 animals.
Research area and sample numbers
NEWREP-NP research area.
Lethal survey sea areas are indicated in blue. Non-lethal survey areas are indicated by the red line frame. (Note: Japan's territorial sea, Exclusive Economic Zone and high seas only).
| Year | Offshore survey sample numbers | Abashiri coastal area | Pacific coastal area sample numbers | |
| Common minke whale | Sei whale | |||
| 2017 | 43 | 134 | 47 | 38 |
Further reading