1 SC/59/NPM3 CRUISE REPORT OF THE IO SIGHTING SURVEY IN THE NORTHERN

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: KEY WORD; COMMON MINKE WHALE; SIGHTING SURVEY; NORTH PACIFIC; Pacific; minke whale
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.558.6421; http://www.iwcoffice.co.uk/_documents/sci_com/SC59docs/SC-59-NPM3.pdf

From 18 May to 28 June in 2006, the IO passing mode sighting survey using a research vessel Kaiko-maru was conducted in the northern Sea of Japan to get the information on distribution and abundance of common minke whales. The permission to enter the Russian 200 n.miles EEZ from the Russian Federation was issued and the survey was firstly conducted in the continental side of the Sea. During the research distance of 1,421.6 n.miles, a total of 51 schools (55 animals) of common minke whales were primarily sighted and the IO sighting data was obtained. This suggests that there is enormous biomass of common minke whales in the continental side of the Sea. The vessel also observed fin whales and humpback whales in the research area.