Antarctic minke whale [SEP] IUCN conservation status
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Antarctic minke whale


and Brazil, and the latter off South Australia. All involved calves or juveniles. The Antarctic minke whale is currently considered Near Threatened by the IUCN red list. However, the IUCN states that the population size is "clearly in the hundreds of thousands". The Antarctic minke whale is listed on Appendix II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). It is listed on Appendix II as it has an unfavourable conservation status or would benefit significantly from international co-operation organised by tailored
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Whaling in Japan


after seeing the helicopter. Their objective is to hunt 3,000 Antarctic minke whales over 10 years, starting with 330 whales during the 2015–16 season. Antarctic minke whale have experienced an apparent decline in population, though the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) indicates that it lacks sufficient data to confer a "threatened" designation on the species of minke whale. In December 2018, Japan announced that it will resume commercial whale hunts in July 2019 within its territorial waters and commercial zones. These hunts are a source of conflict
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Minke whale


krill, Euphausia frigida, Thysanoessa macrura), and one amphipod ("Themisto gaudichaudii)." As of 2018, the IUCN Red List labels the common minke whale as Least Concern and the Antarctic minke whale as Near Threatened. COSEWIC puts both species in the Not At Risk category . NatureServe lists them as G5 which means the species is secure on global range . Population estimates are generated by the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission. The 2004 estimate yielded 515,000 individuals for the Antarctic minke stock. Whaling was mentioned in
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Whaling in Japan


, but, in accordance with the ICJ's decision, NEWREP-A needed to sufficiently meet two objectives: Japan stipulated that it will only kill whales if non-lethal methods of data collection and biopsy sampling fail to meet the plan's objectives. Furthermore, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) has declared that information on the number of Antarctic minke whale "data deficient". In early October 2015, Japan's ambassador to the UN, Motohide Yoshikawa, announced that Japan does not accept
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Antarctic minke whale


work on marine mammal taxonomy, giving what he called the "Antarctic minke whale" ("B. bonaerensis", Burmeister, 1867), full specific status – this was followed by the International Whaling Commission a few years later. Other organizations followed suit. Antarctic and common minke whales diverged from each other in the Southern Hemisphere 4.7 million years ago, during a prolonged period of global warming in the early Pliocene which disrupted the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and created local pockets of upwelling, facilitating speciation by fragmenting populations. There have been
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Antarctic minke whale


The Antarctic minke whale or southern minke whale ("Balaenoptera bonaerensis") is a species of minke whale within the suborder of baleen whales. It is the second smallest rorqual after the common minke whale and the third smallest baleen whale. Although first scientifically described in the mid-19th century, it was not recognized as a distinct species until the 1990s. Once ignored by the whaling industry due to its small size and low oil yield, the Antarctic minke was able to avoid the fate of other baleen whales and maintained a large population
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Common minke whale


DNA testing. This testing also confirmed that the Antarctic minke whale is the closest relative of the common minke whale, thus confirming the validity of the minke whale clade. Common and Antarctic minke whales diverged from each other in the Southern Hemisphere 4.7 million years ago, during a prolonged period of global warming in the early Pliocene which disrupted the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and created local pockets of upwelling, facilitating speciation by fragmenting populations. The radiation of common minke whales into the Northern Hemisphere occurred rapidly about 1.5 million years ago during a period
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Minke whale


feed on krill in July and August. Most minke whales observed in 2002 (90.4%) fed solely on one prey species. Antarctic minke whales are diurnal feeders. This minke whale population mainly feeds on Antarctic krill in offshore areas and ice krill in coastal areas on the continental shelf such as the Ross sea and Prydz bay. The population has been recorded to forage on ten known species: five fish (Antarctic silverfish, Antarctic jonasfish, Antarctic lanternfish, Chionodraco, and Notothenia), four euphausiids (Antarctic krill, ice
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Antarctic minke whale


two confirmed hybrids between Antarctic and common minke whales. Both were caught in the northeastern North Atlantic by Norwegian whaling vessels. The first, an female taken off western Spitsbergen () on 20 June 2007, was the result of a pairing between a female Antarctic minke and a male common minke. The second, a pregnant female taken off northwestern Spitsbergen () on 1 July 2010, on the other hand, had a common minke mother and an Antarctic minke father. Her female fetus, in turn, was fathered by a
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Antarctic minke whale


attack, kill, and feed on a juvenile Antarctic minke whale in Laubeuf Fjord, between Adelaide Island and the Antarctic Peninsula. Little has been published on the parasitic and epibiotic fauna of Antarctic minke whales. Individuals were often found with orange-brown to yellowish patches of the diatom "Cocconeis ceticola" on their bodies – 35.7% off South Africa and 67.5% in the Antarctic. Of a sample of whales caught by a Japanese expedition along the ice edge, one-fifth was infested with cyamids (those from one whale
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Minke whale


and a further taxonomically unnamed subspecies found in the Southern Hemisphere, the dwarf minke whale (first described by Best, 1985). On at least one occasion, an Antarctic minke whale has been confirmed migrating to the Arctic. In addition, at least two wild hybrids between a common minke whale and an Antarctic minke whale have been confirmed. The minke whales are the second smallest baleen whale; only the pygmy right whale is smaller. Upon reaching sexual maturity (6–8 years of age), males measure an average of and
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Common minke whale


form" based on specimens and sightings from Australia. This unnamed subspecies has a prominent white flipper and shoulder blaze and a dark throat patch, whereas what was called the "dark-shouldered" or "ordinary" form of minke whale (now known as a separate species, the Antarctic minke whale, "B. bonaerensis") lacked these contrasting markings. Until recently, all minke whales were considered a single species. However, the common minke whale was recognized as a separate species from the Antarctic minke whale based on mitochondrial
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Common minke whale


of cooling in the Pleistocene. There have been two confirmed hybrids between common and Antarctic minke whales. Both were caught in the northeastern North Atlantic by Norwegian whaling vessels. The first, an female taken off western Spitsbergen () on 20 June 2007, was the result of a pairing between a female Antarctic minke and a male common minke. The second, a pregnant female taken off northwestern Spitsbergen () on 1 July 2010, on the other hand, had a common minke mother and an Antarctic minke father. Her female
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Antarctic minke whale


because of constant harassment from environmental groups, they failed to reach the quota again, with a catch of only 551 whales. Beginning in 1968, larger numbers of minke whales were caught off Natal, South Africa, mainly to supplement the dwindling supply of larger species, particularly the sei whale. A total of 1,113 whales (nearly all Antarctic minke, but a few dwarf minke as well) were caught off the province between 1968 and 1975, with a peak of 199 in 1971. They were taken by whale catchers of
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Antarctic minke whale


found in mixed groups (usually one sex outnumbers the other, and groups composed solely of males or females are occasionally found) and occur in higher latitudes. Mature males dominate in middle latitudes, while mature females predominate in the higher latitudes of the pack ice zone – from two-thirds to three-quarters of the whales in the Ross Sea consist of pregnant females. An immature Antarctic minke whale was observed briefly associating with four dwarf minke whales on the Great Barrier Reef in July 2000. Unlike common minke whales, they
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Antarctic minke whale


those of larger ones – the minke whaling grounds were much further south (south of 60°S) than those for fin and sei whales. From 1987 to the present, Japan has been sending a fleet consisting of a single factory ship and several catcher/spotting vessels to the Southern Ocean to catch Antarctic minkes under Article VIII of the IWC, which allows the culling of whales for scientific research. The first research program, Japanese Research Program in the Antarctic (JARPA), began in 1987-88, when 273
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Antarctic minke whale


Antarctic minkes were caught. The quota and catch soon increased to 330 and 440. In 2005-06, the second research program, JARPA II, began. In its first two years, in what Japan called its "feasibility study", 850 Antarctic minkes, as well as 10 fin whales, were to be taken each season (2005–06 and 2006–07). The quota was reached in the first season, but due to a fire, only 508 Antarctic minkes were caught in the second. In 2007-08,
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Antarctic minke whale


were identified as "Cyamus balaenopterae"). Several hundred of these whale lice can be found on a single whale, with an average of 55 per individual – most are found at the end of the ventral grooves and around the umbilicus. The copepod "Pennella" was found on only one whale. Cestodes were commonly found in the intestines (one example was identified as "Tetrabothrius affinis"). Antarctic minke whales are more gregarious than their smaller counterparts, the common and dwarf minke whale. The average group size in
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Antarctic minke whale


W). Later surveys, which distinguished between Antarctic and dwarf minke whales, showed that most of these were Antarctic minke whales. They have a circumpolar distribution in the Southern Ocean (where they have been recorded year-round), including the Bellingshausen, Scotia, Weddell and Ross Seas. They are most abundant in the MacKenzie Bay-Prydz Bay area (60° – 80°E, south of 66°S) and relatively numerous off Queen Maud Land (0° – 20°E, 66° –
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Minke whale


The minke whale , or lesser rorqual, is a species complex of baleen whale. The two species of minke whale are the common (or northern) minke whale and the Antarctic (or southern) minke whale. The minke whale was first described by the Danish naturalist Otto Fabricius in 1780, who assumed it must be an already known species and assigned his specimen to "Balaena rostrata", a name given to the northern bottlenose whale by Otto Friedrich Müller in 1776. In 1804, Bernard Germain de Lacépède described a juvenile
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Antarctic minke whale


edge of the fast ice, where they have been observed between belts of pack ice and in leads and polynyas – often in heavy ice cover. Some individuals have become trapped in the ice and were forced to overwinter in the Antarctic – for example, up to 120 "lesser rorquals" were trapped in a small breathing hole with sixty killer whales and an Arnoux's beaked whale in Prince Gustav Channel, east of the Antarctic Peninsula and west of James Ross Island, in August 1955. Two Antarctic minke whales marked with "
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Antarctic minke whale


North Atlantic common minke, demonstrating that back-crossing is possible between hybrids of the two species. The Antarctic minke is among the smallest of the baleen whales, with only the common minke and the pygmy right whale being smaller. The longest caught off Brazil were an female taken in 1969 and an male taken in 1975, the former four feet longer than the second longest females and the latter five feet longer than the second longest males. Off South Africa, the longest measured were a female and a male. The heaviest
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Antarctic minke whale


calanoid copepods, the pelagic amphipod "Themisto gaudichaudii", Antarctic sidestripes ("Pleuragramma antarcticum"), the crocodile icefish "Cryodraco antarcticus", nototheniids, and myctophids. The majority of individuals examined off South Africa had empty stomachs. The few that did have food in their stomachs had all preyed on euphausiids, mainly "Thysanoessa gregaria" and "E. recurva". Antarctic minke whales are the main prey item of Type A killer whales in the Southern Ocean. Their remains have been found in the stomachs of killer whales
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Whaling in Japan


Sea Shepherd. Japan's Fisheries Agency announced on April 12, 2010, that the whaling fleet had caught about half of the 935 whales it has hoped to catch during the 2009–2010 whaling research season as a result of obstruction by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society protest operations. The whalers harvested 506 southern minke whales and one fin whale. In February 2011, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society caused Japan to call off annual whaling in Antarctic waters. Atsushi Ishii, Japanese political scientist and professor at Tohoku University's Center for Northeast Asian Studies stated
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Common minke whale


watching cruises setting sail from, for instance, the Isle of Mull in Scotland, County Cork in Ireland and Húsavík in Iceland. Common minke whales are frequently inquisitive and will indulge in "human-watching". In contrast to the spectacularly acrobatic humpback whale, minkes do not raise their fluke out of the water when diving and are less likely to breach. Minkes can stay submerged for as long as twenty minutes. The common minke whale is considered "Least Concern" on the IUCN red list. In addition, the
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Whale conservation


the North Atlantic Ocean around Greenland, Iceland, and Norway. There is no information about fin whales in areas outside of the Northern Atlantic, where they still hold the status of being endangered. A complete list of whale conservation statuses as listed by the IUCN is given below. Note that, in the case of the blue and gray whales, the IUCN distinguishes the statuses of various populations. These populations, while not regarded as separate species, are considered sufficiently important in terms of conservation. *Atlantic population of gray whale
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Antarctic minke whale


known of its function. The barque "Antarctic", sent by whaling pioneer Svend Foyn and led by Henrik Johan Bull, managed to harpoon at least three minke whales in the Antarctic between December 1894 and January 1895. Two were saved, both being used for fresh meat (one had only yielded two barrels of blubber). In December 1923, when the men of the first modern whaling expedition to visit the Ross Sea saw "a number of spouts" after leaving the ice edge they were soon disgusted to find out
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Antarctic minke whale


caught in the Antarctic were a female that weighed 10.4 metric tons (11.5 short tons) and an male that weighed 8.8 metric tons (9.7 short tons). At physical maturity, females average and males . At sexual maturity, females average and males . Calves are estimated to be at birth. Like their close relative the common minke, the Antarctic minke whale is robust for its genus. They have a narrow, pointed, triangular rostrum with a low splashguard. Their prominent, upright, falcate dorsal fin – often more
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Antarctic minke whale


dark gray border (when present) of less than 6% of the width of the plate. Antarctic minkes have an average of 42 to 44 thin, narrow ventral grooves (range 32 to 70) that extend to about 48% of the length of the body – well short of the umbilicus. Antarctic minke whales occur throughout much of the Southern Hemisphere. In the western South Atlantic, they have been recorded off Brazil from 0°53'N to 27°35'S (nearly year-round), Uruguay, off
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Whaling


ceased whaling long ago, and so are not covered in this article. The primary species hunted are minke whales, belugas, narwhals, and pilot whales. which are some of the smallest species of whales. There are also smaller numbers killed of gray whales, sei whales, fin whales, bowhead whales, Bryde's whales, sperm whales and humpback whales. Recent scientific surveys estimate a population of 103,000 minkes in the northeast Atlantic. With respect to the populations of Antarctic minke whales, as of January 2010, the IWC
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Antarctic minke whale


745 – later quotas would be as high as 8,000. During the commercial whaling era, from 1950-51 to 1986-87, 97,866 minke whales (the vast majority probably Antarctic minkes) were caught in the Southern Ocean – mainly by the Japanese and Soviets – with a peak of 7,900 being reached in 1976-77. Harpoon guns of lesser caliber and "cold harpoons" (harpoons without explosive shells) had to be used due to their small size, while no air was pumped into the carcasses when they were
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Whaling in Japan


Oslo, assisted with analyzing the data and claimed the study was first rejected by two other journals for political reasons. Nick Gales, of the Australian Antarctic Division, stated the study failed to address criticisms of its methodology when initially presented. The study contradicted previous JARPA studies indicating Antarctic minke whale populations were healthy. Following the September 2018 Florianopolis Declaration where the IWC rejected Japan's latest commercial hunt proposal, and concluded that the purpose of the IWC is the conservation of whales, Japan withdrew its IWC membership on December 26, 2018
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Dwarf killer whale


received little attention and a lack of support from the scientific community. Based on the Soviet research, four ecotypes of killer whales have currently been established in regards to size and physical characteristics: A, B, C, and D. Type A is the most common known killer whale with a large black and white body with a medium-sized white eye patch. This killer whale is located in Antarctic open waters while preying upon Antarctic minke whales ("Balaenoptera honaerensis)." They follow the migration patterns of the minke whales
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Whale conservation


the Barents Sea, it is estimated that a [potential] net economic loss of five tons of cod and herring per fishery results from every additional minke whale in the population due the fish consumption of the single whale. Since the 1986 IWC ban on whaling, Japan has conducted its whaling by issuing scientific research permits. The value of "lethal sampling" of whales is a highly contentious issue. The stated aim of the Japanese JARPA research program is to establish sustainable whaling in the Antarctic Ocean. The selling of whale meat
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Antarctic minke whale


of negative bias because some minke whales would have been outside the surveyable ice edge boundaries. Antarctic minke whales become sexually mature at 5 to 8 years of age for males and 7 to 9 years of age for females. Both become physically mature at about 18 years of age. After a gestation period of about 10 months, a single calf of is born – twin and triplet fetuses have been reported, but are rare. After a lactation period of about six months, the calf is weaned at a length of . The
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Antarctic minke whale


. Like common minke whales, Antarctic minkes exhibit a great deal of spatial and temporal segregation by sex, age class, and reproductive condition. Off South Africa, immature animals predominate from April to May, while mature whales (mainly males) dominate from June onwards – in August and September mature males often accompany cow-calf pairs. Off Brazil, a good proportion of the individuals are immature (particularly for females) in July and August, but by September most are mature, and by October and November nearly all are
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Antarctic minke whale


caught by the Soviets, while individuals caught by the Japanese exhibited damaged flippers with tooth rake scars and parallel scarring on the body suggestive of killer whale attacks. Large groups of killer whales have also been observed chasing, attacking, and even killing Antarctic minke whales. Most attacks involve Type A killer whales, but on one occasion, in January 2009, a group of ten Type B or pack ice killer whales, which normally preyed on Weddell seals in the area by wave-washing them off ice floes, were observed to
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Common minke whale


475 (95% CI: 221-1,020) whales based on sightings from ship-based line-transect surveys made during the summers of 2004 and 2005. There are no population estimates for dwarf minke whales due to sighting surveys not being able to distinguish it from the much more common Antarctic minke whale. Minke whales were individually identified using the shape of the dorsal fin and nicks along its edges, variations in lateral body pigmentation, and small oval scars in three separate study sites on the western coast of North America.
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Whaling in Japan


The Japanese government claims that it strongly supports the protection of endangered species, and the scientific whaling is essential to gather information about the status of the various populations. It further claims that the scale of the research is such that it does not affect the stock of the species. The 1985 IWC estimate put the Southern Hemisphere minke whale population at 761,000 (510,000–1,140,000 in the 95% confidence estimate). A paper submitted to the IWC on population estimates in Antarctic waters using CNB gives a population of 665,074 based on Southern Ocean Whale
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Whale conservation


national limits, while Japanese health-ministry scientists have found that minke whale meat harvested from the Antarctic, which constitutes the vast majority of whale meat eaten in Japan is similarly within national standards for mercury and PCB levels. Whale meat is very high in protein and very low in saturated fat. Whalers say that whaling is an essential condition for the successful operation of commercial fisheries, and thus the plentiful availability of food from the sea that consumers have become accustomed to. This argument is made particularly forcefully in Atlantic fisheries, for
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Minke whale


Japan continued catching whales under the special research permit clause in the IWC convention, though in significantly smaller numbers. The stated purpose of the research is to establish data to support a case for the resumption of sustainable commercial whaling. Environmental organizations and several governments contend that research whaling is simply a cover for commercial whaling. The 2006 catch by Japanese whalers included 505 Antarctic minke whales. Between November 2017 and March 2018, Japan reported catches of a total of 333 Minke whales, of which 122 were pregnant females. Although Norway initially
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Antarctic minke whale


", 1977–1985) – up to 100 miles offshore and brought to the whaling station at Costinha, operated by the Compania de Pesca Norte do Brasil (COPESBRA) since 1911. The season lasted from June to December, with a peak in either September or October. An male Antarctic minke whale (confirmed by genetics) was caught west of Jan Mayen () in the northeastern North Atlantic on 30 June 1996. Entanglement in fishing gear and probably ship strikes are other sources of mortality. The former have been reported off Peru
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EDOs of Australia


law. The court found that it was and made orders that Kyodo not even interfere with any Antarctic minke whale, fin whale or humpback whale in the sanctuary. A notable case in which EDO Victoria was involved was "Australian Conservation Foundation v Minister for Planning". In that case it was held that the planning panel considering submissions in relation to a planning scheme amendment under the Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic) to expand a coal mine to extend the operation of a major coal-fired power station by 20 years
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Marine mammal


nations remaining which sanction commercial whaling: Norway, where several hundred common minke whales are harvested each year; and Iceland, where quotas of 150 fin whales and 100 minke whales per year are set. Japan also harvests several hundred Antarctic and North Pacific minke whales each year, ostensibly for scientific research in accordance with the moratorium. However, the illegal trade of whale and dolphin meat is a significant market in Japan and some countries. The most profitable furs in the fur trade were those of sea otters, especially the northern sea
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Antarctic minke whale


calving interval is estimated to be about 12.5 to 14 months. Peak calving is from May to June, while peak conception is from August to September. Females may live up to 43 years of age. Antarctic minke whales feed almost exclusively on euphausiids. In the Southern Ocean, over 90% of individuals fed on Antarctic krill ("Euphausia superba"); "E. crystallorophias" also formed an important part of the diet in some areas, particularly in the relatively shallow waters of Prydz Bay. Rare and incidental items include
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Antarctic minke whale


, a broken-off bill of a marlin ("Makaira" sp.) was found embedded in the rostrum of a minke whale caught in the Southern Ocean at , providing indirect evidence of migration to the warmer tropical or subtropical waters of the Indian Ocean. Earlier estimates suggested that there were several hundred thousand minke whales in the Southern Ocean. In 2012, the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission agreed upon a best estimate of 515,000. The Report of the Scientific Committee acknowledged that this estimate is subject to some degree
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Antarctic minke whale


the Northern Hemisphere. This was strengthened by genetic studies using allozyme and mitochondrial DNA analyses, which proposed there were at least two species of minke whale, "B. acutorostrata" and "B. bonaerensis", with the dwarf form being more closely related to the former species. One study, in fact, suggested that sei whales and the offshore form of Bryde's whale were more closely related to one another than either species of minke whale were to each other. The American scientist Dale W. Rice supported these conclusions in his seminal
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Baleen whale


"), the blue whale ("B. musculus"), the common minke whale ("B. acutorostrata"), the Antarctic minke whale ("B. bonaerensis"), Omura's whale ("B. omurai"), and the humpback whale ("M. novaeangliae"). In a 2012 review of cetacean taxonomy, Alexandre Hassanin (of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle) and colleagues suggested that, based on phylogenic criteria, there are four extant genera of rorquals. They recommend that the genus "Balaenoptera"
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Antarctic minke whale


tied alongside for towing to ensure the greatest quality of meat. While an expedition or two was fitted out each year specifically for minke whales – the "Jinyo Maru" in 1971-72, the "Chiyo Maru" from 1972-73 to 1974-75, and the "Kyokusei Maru" in 1973-74 – most expeditions, which targeted other species, ignored minkes during the peak of the whaling season (November–December and late February to early March) and only caught them on whaling grounds relatively close to
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Sea Shepherd Conservation Society operations


fleet had caught about half of the 985 whales it has hoped to catch during the 2009–2010 whaling research season as a result of obstruction by Sea Shepherd operations. The whalers harvested 506 southern minke whales and one finback whale. On January 6, 2010, the "Ady Gil" was severely damaged in the Antarctic Ocean after the Japanese security vessel the "Shōnan Maru 2" collided with it; both sides blamed each other for the incident. One of the six crewmen was injured. Sea Shepherd attempted to tow the stricken vessel
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International Whaling Commission


that "[t]he ban was inconsistent with measures that had just been adopted by the IWC that were designed to allow harvests of stocks at safe levels." After the moratorium came into force in 1986, the Scientific Committee was commissioned to review the status of the whale stocks and develop a calculation method for setting safe catch limits. At the IWC's annual meeting in 1991, the Scientific Committee submitted its finding that there existed approximately 761,000 minke whales in Antarctic waters, 87,000 in the northeast Atlantic, and 25,000 in the North
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Institute of Cetacean Research


unnecessary. The 2007-1 resolution on JARPA is one of several calling on Japan by majority vote to suspend its lethal research. Like its predecessor, the whaling program takes place near Antarctica. Starting in 2005 and continuing to the present day, purported objectives include monitoring the Antarctic ecosystem, modelling competition between whale species, recording changes in stock structure and improving future management of Antarctic whales. The program calls for hunting 850 or more Antarctic minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 humpback whales per season. Note, however,
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Whaling


the Antarctic Ocean, the northwest Pacific ocean, and the Australian Whale Sanctuary. Norway registered an objection to the International Whaling Commission moratorium and is thus not bound by it. Commercial whaling ceased for a five-year period to allow a small scientific catch for gauging the stock's sustainability and resumed 1993. Minke whales are the only legally hunted species. Catches have fluctuated between 487 animals in 2000 to 592 in 2007. For the year 2011 the quota is set at 1,286 minke whales. The catch is made solely from the
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Antarctic minke whale


gray to gray) ventrally with a thin, dusky margin. Some small, dark gray "speckling" may be present on the body. Antarctic minkes lack the bright white, transverse "flipper band" of the common minke and the white "shoulder blaze" and bright white "flipper patch" (occupying the proximal two-thirds of the flipper) of the dwarf minke. Instead, their narrow, pointed flippers, about one-sixth to one-eighth of the total body length, are normally either a plain
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Antarctic minke whale


539 to 593 gross tons with 90 mm harpoon guns mounted on their bows, which brought them to the whaling station at Durban () for processing. Gunners refused to take minkes early in the day, because sharks devoured any minke carcasses that were flagged, forcing the catchers to tow them during the chasing of other whales and thus slowing them down. They also could not use asdic, as it frightened them and lead to protracted chases. The season lasted from February to September, with a peak in the last month of
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Pygmy right whale


and lactation periods and longevity are all unknown. Part of the reason for the scarcity of data may be the relative inactivity of the whale, making location for study difficult. The blow is small and indistinct and the whale is usually a slow undulating swimmer, although capable of bursts of acceleration. The coloring and shape of the pygmy right whale, dark gray dorsally and lighter gray ventrally, commonly with a pair of chevron-shaped lighter patches behind the eyes, is similar to that of the dwarf minke and Antarctic minke whales
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Antarctic minke whale


whales depleted, whaling nations focused their attention on the smaller, but more numerous, minke whales. Though the Soviets had caught several hundred in the 1950s, it was not until 1971-72 that a significant catch was made, with over 3,000 being taken (nearly all by a single Japanese expedition). Not wanting to repeat the same mistakes it had made with previous species, the International Whaling Commission set a quota of 5,000 for the following season, 1972-73. Despite these precautions, the quota was exceeded by
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Rorqual


Antarctic (southern) minke whale species are found in all the oceans of their respective hemispheres; and either of Bryde's whale and Eden's whale occur in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, being absent only from the cold waters of the Arctic and Antarctic. Most rorquals are strictly oceanic: the exceptions are Bryde's whale and Eden's whale (which are usually found close to shore all year round) and the humpback whale (which is oceanic but passes close to shore when migrating). It is the
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Whaling in Japan


the court's jurisdiction over research, conservation, or exploitation of marine life and would proceed with NEWREP-A, without waiting for the court's approval. On December 1, 2015, Japan sent a fleet to the Antarctic Ocean with the aim of hunting 330 minke whales. The fleet included the ship the "Nisshin Maru" and three smaller boats. The move was met with objections from the Australian and New Zealand governments. On September 13, 2018, IWC members gathered in Florianópolis, Brazil, where they discussed and
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Common minke whale


). These were taken from December to March between the latitudes of 55°22'S and 65°04'S and the longitudes of 111°26'E and 178°12'E. An additional 180 minke whales (47 males, 133 females) which had flippers with a "clear white band" were taken by Japanese expeditions in the sub-Antarctic between 1972–73 and 1976–77, with a peak of 69 in 1975–76. Minke whales are occasionally caught in fishing gear of various types, including set nets, fish pots, gillnets, trap
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Whaling in Japan


stock numbers and structure, the role of whales in the Antarctic ecosystem and how environmental changes affect whales. The whaling operation alternated between several pre-established areas intending to take 400 or more minke whales per season. In 1997 the IWC scientific committee officially reviewed the JARPA program. The committee expected reasonable precision and usefulness of the data collected but disagreed on whether lethal methods were necessary. It was also noted that the results could potentially allow for an increase in the number of minke whales annually taken. In the final 2007 review
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Antarctic toothfish


, Weddell seals ("Leptonychotes weddellii") and Antarctic minke whales ("Balaenoptera bonaerensis"). Therefore, competition for prey among toothfish and these other mesopredators (middle trophic level predators) could be very important. The large Antarctic toothfish are eaten by sperm whales ("Physeter macrocephalus"), killer whales ("Orcinus orca"), Weddell seals, and possibly colossal squid ("Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni"). Toothfish that are dwelling on the bottom, particularly those caught during the summer on the continental slope,
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Antarctic minke whale


be over deep are made during the day (from about 2 a.m. to about 8 p.m.). Antarctic minke whales produce a variety of sounds, including whistles, calls reminiscent of a clanging bell, clicks, screeches, grunts, downsweeps, and a sound called bioduck. Downsweeps are intense, low frequency calls that sweep down from about 130 to 115 Hz to about 60 Hz, with a peak frequency of 83 Hz. Each sweep has a duration of 0.2 seconds and an average source level of about 147 decibels at a
7370206
Antarctic minke whale


a reference pressure of one micropascal at one metre. Their source remained a mystery for decades until attributed to the Antarctic minke whale in a paper published in 2014 – though it had been suggested to originate from this species as early as the mid-2000s. It has been recorded in the Ross and Lazarev Seas, over Perth Canyon, off Western Australia from late June to early December, and in the King Haakon VII Sea from April to December. The sound seems to be made near the surface before foraging dives, but nothing is
7370208
Antarctic minke whale


the season. In 1966, minke whales became the target of whaling operations off northeastern Brazil (6° – 8°S) due, once again, to the decline of sei whales. Over 14,000 were caught between 1949 and 1985, with a peak of 1,039 in 1975. They were caught by a succession of whale catchers – the 367-ton "Koyo Maru 2" (1966–1971), the 306-ton "Seiho Maru 2" (1971–1977), and the 395-ton "Cabo Branco" (also called "Katsu Maru 10
7370219
Crabeater seal


of Antarctic krill, the single species with the greatest biomass on the planet. There is little seasonality in their prey preference, but they may target adult and male krill. Other prey items include cephalopods and diverse Antarctic fish species. Although the crabeater seal is sympatric with the other Antarctic seal species (Weddell, Ross and leopard seals), the specialization on krill minimizes interspecific food competition. Among krill-feeding whales, only blue whales ("Balaenoptera musculus") and minke whales ("B. acutorostrata") extend their
8260310
Whaling in the Faroe Islands


the International Union for Conservation of Nature as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. In its Red List of Threatened Species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists both the long-finned and short-finned pilot whales with "Data Deficient" status, according to its 2008 assessment. In a previous assessment in 1996, the organization listed the species in the "Lower Risk/least concern" category. The IUCN also says that with the NAMMCO-estimated population size of 778,000 in
5718110
Whaling in Japan


the stated objectives included monitoring the Antarctic ecosystem, modeling competition between whale species, recording changes in stock structure and improving future management of Antarctic whales. The program calls for 950 minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 humpback whales annually. Disagreement over the value of the research, the use of lethal methods and the sample sizes continued in both the scientific committee and the commission. In 2005 and 2007 the commission passed resolutions by majority urging Japan to stop all lethal research in JARPA II. On March 31, 2014, the
19752128
Killer whale


IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) changed its assessment of the killer whale's conservation status from conservation dependent to data deficient, recognizing that one or more killer whale types may actually be separate, endangered species. Depletion of prey species, pollution, large-scale oil spills, and habitat disturbance caused by noise and conflicts with boats are the most significant worldwide threats. Like other animals at the highest trophic levels, the killer whale is particularly at risk of poisoning from bioaccumulation of toxins, including Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs
17352302
Baleen whale


for scientific research. Japan has had two main research programs: the Joint Aquatic Resources Permit Application (JARPA) and the Japanese Research Program in the North (JARPN). JARPN is focused in the North Pacific and JARPA around the Antarctic. JARPA mainly caught Antarctic minke whales, catching nearly 7,000; to a far lesser extent, they also caught fin whales. Animal-rights activist groups, such as the Greenpeace, object to Japan's scientific whaling, with some calling it a substitute for commercial whaling. In 2014,
7774683
Marine mammals as food


takes approximately 150 North Atlantic fin whales and less than 50 minke whales each year. Japan also harvests several hundred Antarctic and North Pacific minke whales each year under the guise of scientific research. However, the illegal trade of whale and dolphin meat is a significant market in some countries. Seals and sealions are also still hunted in some areas such as Canada. For thousands of years, Arctic people have depended on whale meat. In Alaska now, the meat is harvested from legal, non-commercial hunts that occur twice a
11367566
Ross Sea


back over 150 years. The Ross Sea is home to at least 10 mammal species, half a dozen species of birds, 95 species of fish, and over 1,000 invertebrate species. Some species of birds that nest in and near the Ross Sea include the Adélie penguin, emperor penguin, Antarctic petrel, snow petrel, and south polar skua. Marine mammals in the Ross Sea include the Antarctic minke whale, killer whale, Weddell seal, crabeater seal, and leopard seal. Antarctic toothfish, Antarctic silverfish, Antarctic krill,
1970216
Antarctic minke whale


curved and pointed than in common minkes –is set about two-thirds the way along the back. About half of individuals have a light gray flare or patch on the posterior half of the dorsal fin, similar to that seen in species of dolphins in the genus "Lagenorhynchus". They are dark gray dorsally and clean white ventrally. The lower jaw projects beyond the upper jaw and is dark gray on both sides. Antarctic minkes lack the light gray "rostral saddle" present in the common and dwarf forms. All
7370176
Dwarf sperm whale


can eject a cloud of red-brown fluid, similar to a squid. Most of what is known of the whale comes from beached individuals, as sightings in the ocean are rare. Many of these stranded whales died from parasitic infestations or heart failure. The dwarf sperm whale is hunted in small numbers around Asia. It is more threatened by ingesting or getting entangled by marine debris. No global population estimate has been made, and so its conservation status by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is data
11093782
Antarctic minke whale


mature. Females outnumber males two to one off Brazil, while the opposite is true off South Africa, where males outnumber females nearly two to one. Over a quarter of the females off South Africa were found to be lactating, whereas lactating females are very rare in the Antarctic – though a cow-calf pair was observed in the austral winter (August) in the Lazarev Sea. In the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic, immature animals are normally solitary and occur in lower latitudes further offshore, while mature whales are typically
7370202
Antarctic minke whale


whale" (minke whale, "B. acutorostrata") and named it "B. huttoni". Both descriptions were largely ignored for a century. Gordon R. Williamson was the first to describe a dark-flippered form in the Southern Hemisphere, based on three specimens, a pregnant female taken in 1955 and two males taken in 1957, all brought aboard the British factory ship "Balaena". All three had uniformly pale gray flippers and bicolored baleen, with white plates in the front and gray plates in the back. Further
7370169
Antarctic minke whale


that they from lowly minke whales. The few caught by the British in the 1950s were taken more for curiosity than anything else. The chemist Christopher Ash, who had served on the British factory ship "Balaena" during this time, stated that they were small enough to be lifted by their tails using a 10-ton spring balance and weighed entire. "Generally this is done when there are no other whales about and the deck empty except for a crowd of sightseers," Ash explained, "but this crowd quickly scatters when
7370210
Baleen whale


Nature (IUCN) recognizes 15 mysticete species. One species—the North Atlantic right whale—is endangered with only around 400(±50) individuals left, and four more are also classified as endangered (North Pacific right whale, the blue whale, the fin whale, and the Sei whale), and another 5 ranked as Data deficient (Bryde's whale, Eden's whale, Omura's whale, Southern minke whale, and pygmy right whale). Species that live in polar habitats are vulnerable to the effects of ongoing climate
7774677
Harpoon cannon


hunt. Norway uses 50 mm KV cannons in the minke whale hunt, as well as muzzle-loading 60 mm Henriksen cannons. Greenland uses 50 mm KV cannons in the hunt for minke, bowhead, fin, and humpback whales. Japan uses 75 mm cannons, built by Miroku Manufacturing in its pelagic whaling in the North Pacific and Antarctic 'research' hunts. All of the above countries utilize Norwegian-designed PETN grenades to improve the humaneness of the kill, with the exception of Japan, which uses domestically manufactured grenades
19375930
Blue whale


A 2002 report estimated there were 5,000 to 12,000 blue whales worldwide, in at least five populations. The IUCN estimates that there are probably between 10,000 and 25,000 blue whales worldwide today. Before whaling, the largest population was in the Antarctic, numbering approximately 239,000 (range 202,000 to 311,000). There remain only much smaller (around 2,000) concentrations in each of the eastern North Pacific, Antarctic, and Indian Ocean populations. There are two more groups in the North Atlantic, and at least two in the Southern Hemisphere.
4839392
Antarctic minke whale


December), Japanese sighting surveys from 1976 to 1987 recorded relatively high encounter rates of minke whales off South Africa and Mozambique (20° – 30°S, 30° – 40°E), off Western Australia (20° – 30°S, 110° – 120°E), around the Gambier Islands of French Polynesia (20° – 30°S, 130° – 140°W), and in the eastern South Pacific (10° – 20°S, 110° – 120°
7370187
Antarctic minke whale


studies in the 1960s supported his description. In the 1970s osteological and morphological studies suggested it was at least a subspecies of the common minke whale, which was designated "B. a. bonaerensis", after Burmeister's specimen. In the 1980s further studies based on external appearance and osteology suggested there were in fact two forms in the Southern Hemisphere, a larger form with dark flippers and a "diminutive" or "dwarf form" with white flippers, the latter of which appeared to be more closely related to the common form of
7370170
Antarctic minke whale


into the 21st century, numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Surviving to become the most abundant baleen whale in the world, it is now one of the mainstays of the industry alongside its cosmopolitan counterpart the common minke. It is primarily restricted to the Southern Hemisphere (although vagrants have been reported in the North Atlantic) and feeds mainly on euphausiids. In February 1867, a fisherman found an estimated male rorqual floating in the Río de la Plata near Belgrano, about ten miles from Buenos Aires, Argentina. After bringing it
7370167
Antarctic minke whale


W-shaped pattern (analogous to a similar pattern seen on their larger cousin the fin whale) lies between the flippers. This broadens to form a light gray "shoulder patch" above the flippers. Like common and dwarf minkes, they have two light gray to whitish swaths, called the "thorax" and "flank patches", the former running diagonally up from the axilla and diagonally down again to form a triangular intrusion into the dark gray of the thorax and the latter rising more vertically along its anterior edge and
7370178
Whaling in Japan


. It then resumed commercial hunting in its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone on July 1, 2019, but ceased whaling activities in the Antarctic Ocean. Japan expects to hunt 227 minke whales by the end of 2019, but without government subsidies, their whaling industry is not expected to survive. A subsidy of 5.1 billion yen (US$47.31 million) was budgeted for commercial whaling in 2019. Anti-whaling governments and groups have strongly opposed Japan's whaling program. Greenpeace argues that whales are endangered and must be protected.
19752140
Whaling in Japan


of the season. By 1939 Germany and Japan accounted for 30% of the world's whale take. In 2016, according to the country's Institute for Cetacean Research, Japan's whaling fleet has killed 333 minke whales in the part of this year's Antarctic whale hunt. Some 230 were female; about 90% of these were pregnant, according to the report. During the Second World War, Japan's whaling was significantly limited to more familiar hunting grounds, such as the Bonin Islands, to provide meat and oil
19752073
List of mammals of Tuvalu


longirostris"), bottlenose dolphin ("Tursiops truncatus"), and sperm whale ("Physeter macrocephalus"). The pantropical spotted dolphin ("Stenella attenuata") is found in the lists of both Miller and the IUCN. A revision of the list of cetaceans reported in the ocean surrounding Tuvalu was carried out by Miller (2009), who listed a "minke-like" whale ("Balaenoptera" species) and a diminutive sperm whale ("Kogia" species). In 2010 a research voyage was
21719669
Whaling in Japan


between pro- and anti-whaling countries and organizations. The UN's International Court of Justice, in addition to other countries, scientists, and environmental organizations consider the Japanese research program to be unnecessary and lacking scientific merit, and describe it as a thinly disguised commercial whaling operation. Japan maintains that annual whaling is sustainable and necessary for scientific study and management of whale stocks, though the Antarctic minke whale populations have declined since the beginning of the JARPA program and those whales killed have shown increasing signs of stress. Japan, echoing
19752056
Whaling in Japan


it to stop issuing permits. The current JARPA II permit has been "for 850±10% Antarctic minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 humpback whales annually. To date, Japan has refrained from taking humpback whales." In 1994, at its 46th annual meeting, the IWC established the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in a 23–1–8 vote. Commercial whaling is prohibited within the sanctuary boundaries. Only Japan voted in opposition. As the size of the IWC continued to grow, so did the influence of Japan within the commission. For
19752091
Killer whale


. Of three orca ecotypes in the Antarctic, one preys on minke whales, the second on seals and penguins, and the third on fish. Another ecotype lives in the eastern North Atlantic, while the three Northeast Pacific ecotypes are labeled the transient, resident and offshore populations described above. Research has supported a proposal to reclassify the Antarctic seal- and fish-eating populations and the North Pacific transients as a distinct species, leaving the remaining ecotypes as subspecies. The first split in the orca population, between the North Pacific transients
17352255
Euphausia crystallorophias


an important food source for fish, whales, and penguins, especially minke whales, Weddell seals, Adelie penguins, and the Antarctic silverfish. This makes it arguably the most important link in the coastal Antarctic food chain between the primary producers and the macrofauna. Unlike most other krill species, the eggs of "E. crystallorophias" are neutrally buoyant, meaning they do not sink, and the hatchling larvae do not have to swim back to the more productive, shallower waters; however, since this means both life stages inhabit the
670187
Whale conservation


the dietary behaviour of whales differs among species as well as season, location and availability of prey. For example, sperm whales' prey primarily consists of mesopelagic squid. However, in Iceland, they are reported to consume mainly fish. In addition to krill, minke whales are known to eat a wide range of fish species including capelin, herring, sand lance, mackerel, gadoids, cod, saithe and haddock. Minke whales are estimated to consume 633,000 tons of Atlantic herring per year in part of Northeast Atlantic. In
1758706
Omura's whale


not exhibit them. Omura's whale is among the smallest of the rorquals – only the two species of minke whale, the common and Antarctic, which reach in length, respectively, are smaller. Of the eight specimens taken during Japanese whaling in the Indo-Pacific, the five females ranged in length from , while the three males ranged from . The females ranged in age from perhaps only 9 years (the earplug was damaged or partially lost) for an individual to 29 years for the longest female, whereas the three
8208158
Institute of Cetacean Research


of promoting normalization of IWC activities in line with the ICRW objective of the sustainable use of whale resources. Specific ICR research programs include: The program took place near Antarctica from 1987 to 2005. Its stated objectives were to determine mortality rates, whale stock numbers and structure, the role of whales in the Antarctic ecosystem and how environmental changes affect whales. The whaling operation alternated between several pre-established areas intending to take 400 or more minke whales per season. In 1997 the IWC scientific committee officially reviewed the JARPA program.
4532484
Minke whale


specimen of "Balaenoptera acuto-rostrata". The name is a partial translation of Norwegian "minkehval", possibly after a Norwegian whaler named Meincke, who mistook a northern minke whale for a blue whale. Most modern classifications split the minke whale into two species; Taxonomists further categorize the common minke whale into two or three subspecies; the North Atlantic minke whale, the North Pacific minke whale and dwarf minke whale. All minke whales are part of the rorquals, a family that includes the humpback whale, the fin whale
7369972
Rorqual


largest and the smallest types — the blue whale and Antarctic minke whale — that occupy the coldest waters in the extreme south; the fin whale tends not to approach so close to the ice shelf; the sei whale tends to stay further north again. (In the northern hemisphere, where the continents distort weather patterns and ocean currents, these movements are less obvious, although still present.) Within each species, the largest individuals tend to approach the poles more closely, while the youngest and fittest ones tend to stay in
7321907
Common minke whale


of the whaling industry. There is a dwarf form in the Southern Hemisphere. This species is known in the fossil record from the Pliocene epoch to the Quaternary period (age range: 3.6 million years ago to present day). The origins of the species' common name are obscure. One of the first references to the name came in Henrik Johan Bull's account of his 1893–95 voyage to the Antarctic, when he mentioned catching a small whale "called in the Arctic language a Mencke whale, after a German who accompanied
7370020
Long-finned pilot whale


stay with their mothers after they reach sexual maturity. Among other parasites, long-finned pilot whales harbour "Crassicauda carbonelli", a species of nematodes which is found exclusively in the penis. Though long-finned pilot whales appear to be abundant, there have been no recent reliable estimates for the worldwide population, leading to their IUCN status of "Data Deficient." Conservative estimates for the population found off Newfoundland estimated around 13,000 individuals. Another study estimated a total of 780,000 animals in the North Atlantic, though this study
7903708
Whale conservation


-up animals such as sharks, swordfish and large tuna show similarly high levels of mercury contamination). Organochloride pesticides HCH and HCB are also at higher levels in toothed species, while minke whales show lower levels than most other baleens. The red meat and blubber of (toothed) long-finned pilot whales in the Faroe Islands show high toxin levels, which has a detrimental effect on those who eat it. However, in Norway, only the red meat of minke whales is eaten and the levels of toxins conform to
1758700
Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary


Ocean Whale Sanctuary, Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) has continued to hunt whales inside the Sanctuary in accordance with a provision in the IWC charter permitting whaling for the purposes of scientific research. Japan clarified its position on whaling in a number of forums, noting that while some whale species are threatened, many such as minke whale are not. Some conservation groups such as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society claim Japan's whaling operations are conducted in violation of the IWC charter, arguing that Japan's self-imposed annual
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