Research Plan for New Scientific Whale Research Program in the Antarctic Ocean (NEWREP-A) The Government of Japan Table of contents 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Importance of scientific research in the Antarctic Ocean ..................................... 4 1.2 The International Court of Justice (ICJ) Judgment ............................................. 5 1.3 Japan’s consideration of the reasoning and conclusions in the ICJ Judgment ....... 7 1.4 Overview of JARPA/JARPAII outcomes ............................................................ 11 2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................12 2.1 Main Objective I ...............................................................................................12 2.1.1 Adoption of commercial whaling moratorium and introduction of the RMP............................................................................................................13 2.1.2 The RMP and catch limits for the Antarctic minke whales ............................13 2.1.3 Improvements in the precision of biological and ecological information for the application of the RMP to the Antarctic minke whales ............................15 2.1.4 Conclusion ..................................................................................................17 2.2 Main Objective II ..............................................................................................19 2.2.1 Importance of the investigation of the Antarctic marine ecosystem ...............19 2.2.2 Ecosystem modeling ....................................................................................20 2.2.3 Cooperation with CCAMLR ........................................................................22 2.2.4 Contribution to the future improvement of the RMP ...................................23 2.3 Consistency with Annex P ..................................................................................24 2.4 Data and samples to be collected for the Main Objectives I and II ......................24 3. RESEARCH METHODS ........................................................................................25 3.1 Research area and period ..................................................................................25 3.1.1 Research area ..............................................................................................25 1 3.1.2 Research period ..........................................................................................26 3.2 Research Methods .............................................................................................26 3.2.1 Consideration of non-lethal means and lethal sampling ................................26 3.2.1.1 Main Objective I ................................................................................ 26 3.2.1.2 Main Objective II .............................................................................. 28 3.2.2 Sampling survey methods for Antarctic minke whales ..................................28 3.2.3 Sighting survey methods for whales .............................................................28 3.2.4 Other established non-lethal survey methods for whales ...............................29 3.2.5 Survey methods for krill ..............................................................................30 3.2.6 Other survey methods .................................................................................30 3.3 Calculation of sample size for Antarctic minke whales ........................................31 3.3.1 Calculation ..................................................................................................31 3.3.2 Possible adjustment to the latest available scientific knowledge ....................32 3.3.3 Necessity of new samples and importance of the long time-series data set .....32 3.4 Research vessels to be used and personnel to be involved ....................................33 4. TRIAL, EVALUATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF NEW NON-LETHAL TECHNIQUES ......................................................................................................33 4.1 Age data (Objective I (ii), Appendix 4) (also see Section 3.2.1.1) ..........................34 4.2 Stock structure (Objective I(iii), Appendix 6) .....................................................34 4.3 Prey consumption (Objective II(iii), Appendix 10) ..............................................35 4.4 Chemical markers as potential body condition indicator (Objective II(iii), Appendix 10) ...................................................................................................37 4.5 Others ...............................................................................................................37 5. EFFECT ON THE STOCKS ...................................................................................38 6. TIMELINE OF RESEARCH ACTIVITY ................................................................41 7. BACKUP PLAN FOR CONTINGENCIES ..............................................................44 8. OUTPUT OF THE RESEARCH, PARTICIPATION OF FOREIGN SCIENTISTS AND COLLABORATION WITH OTHER RESEARCHES/ORGANIZATIONS ......................................................................45 2 9. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT, PERSONNEL AND LOGISTIC RESOURCES .......47 REFERENCES ..........................................................................................................47 Appendices Appendix 1: Process for development of this proposed research plan Appendix 2: Clarification of research objectives in the proposed research plan Appendix 3: Objective I(i) Abundance estimates for Antarctic minke whale taking account of g(0) and additional variance estimate Appendix 4: Objective I(ii) Improvement of precision of biological and ecological parameters Part 1: Improvement of age data precision Appendix 5: Objective I(ii) Improvement of precision of biological and ecological parameters Part 2: Refinement of the SCAA model and estimation of biological parameters Appendix 6: Objective I(iii) Refinement of stock structure hypotheses of Antarctic minke whale in Areas III-VI for the implementation of the RMP Appendix 7: Objective I(iv) Specification of RMP ISTs for the Antarctic minke whales Appendix 8: Objective II(i) Plan for ecological research (krill abundance estimation and oceanographic observation) Appendix 9: Objective II(ii) Abundance estimate of some cetacean species as input data for ecosystem modeling Appendix 10: Objective II(iii) Estimation of prey consumption by Antarctic minke whale and its nutritional condition Appendix 11: Objective II(iv) Ecosystem modeling Part 1: Spatial interaction among baleen whales Appendix 12: Objective II(iv) Ecosystem modeling Part 2: Investigation of ecosystem dynamics in the Antarctic Ocean Appendix 13: A: Schematic charts on the data, analyses and steps related to Main Objective II of NEWREP-A Appendix 14: Sample size calculation based on detectability of changes in the age-at-sexual maturity 3 1. INTRODUCTION The original proposal of the research plan was drafted and submitted to the Secretary to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and the Chair of its Scientific Committee (SC) on 18 November 2014, in conformity with paragraph 30 of the Schedule to the ICRW and Annex P (IWC, 2013b). Subsequently it was reviewed by the Expert Panel in February 2015 (NEWREP-A Review Panel), and then additional materials (in the form of ‘preliminary response’ and ‘addendum’) was reviewed by the IWC SC at its 2015 annual meeting from May to June, 2015.. The research plan has been now finalized taking into account the comments and suggestions on scientific aspects provided by experts inside and outside the IWC SC, in particular those from the NEWREP-A Review Panel, and from the IWC SC members. This research plan forms the basis for the Government of Japan to issue a special permit, in accordance with Article VIII, paragraph 1, of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW). Even after the research plan is finalized, the proponent always welcomes comments from outside on this plan that are based upon scientific consideration to which it will give due regard. Furthermore, this research plan could be revised in relation to the lethal sample size, depending on the results of the analysis of non-lethal research methods detailed in Section 4 below. 1.1 Importance of scientific research in the Antarctic Ocean The Antarctic Ocean has its unique marine ecosystem and has the potential of its abundant living resources that could be sustainably exploited for food and other purposes. In recent years, the surrounding Antarctic region has been substantially affected by climate change and the resultant fluctuations in the oceanographic environment are known to have influences on the global environment. The Antarctic marine ecosystem is defined in Article 1, paragraph 3, of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (Convention-CAMLR) as “the complex of relationships of Antarctic marine living resources with each other and with their physical environment”. This effectively means that it is composed of and made from complex interactions among the Antarctic Ocean, its circumpolar currents, sea ice formations and biota including 17 species of cetaceans. Among these, blue (Balaenoptera musculus), fin (B. physalus), humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae), and Antarctic minke (B. bonaerensis)