Institute of Cetacean Research

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Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR, 日本鯨類研究所 Nippon Geirui Kenkyūjo) is a Japanese government-sponsored institution.[1] It took over from the Whale Research Institute (founded in 1947), which grew out of the Nakabe Scientific Research Centre (founded in 1941).[2]

The Whales Research Institute conducted research based on catches from commercial whaling. After the International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium on commercial whaling, the ICR was established to continue the "scientific research."[2] It absorbed the ships, crew and equipment of Kyodo Senpaku which now looks after the sale of whale meat from the institute.[citation needed]

Environmental groups dispute the Japanese claim of research "as a disguise for commercial whaling, which is banned."[3] [4]

Contents

[edit] Research programs

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The ICR hunts and kills nearly a thousand whales yearly while claiming that it is necessary for cetacean research and producing less than 10 research papers. ICR produced 1 research paper in 2001[5] such as:

Whale Research Programs
Biological research including the collection of samples from the Antarctic Ocean and the North-Western Pacific Ocean under special permit from the Government of Japan (JARPA and JARPN II Programs). Samples are used for studies related to estimation of biological parameters, resource abundance, elucidation of stock structure and the role of whales in the marine ecosystem, and elucidation of the effect of environmental changes on cetaceans.
Sighting Surveys
Conducted in the Southern Hemisphere and the North Pacific to elucidate trends in abundance, density, distribution, and behavior of whales. These surveys include the IWC Southern Ocean Whale and Ecosystem Research (SOWER) Program.
Socio-Economic Research
Conducted to document and clarify the relationship of man and whales from the social, cultural, historical, economical, and dietary culture aspects.

The ICR also conducts research with the objective of promoting normalization of IWC activities in line with the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) objectective of sustainable utilization of whale resources.

Specific ICR research programs include:

  1. Development of a whale products distribution surveillance system using genetic techniques including the creation of a database for the determination of species and place (sea area) of origin, and establishment of individual identification techniques;
  2. Development of age assessment techniques using age characters, including chemical analysis;
  3. Research on biotelemetry technology development using artificial satellites;
  4. Research on natural marks identification;
  5. Research on the bioaccumulation of heavy metals and environmental chemicals such as organic chlorine compounds;
  6. Research concerning improvement and development of whale capture/harvesting techniques;
  7. Collection and analysis of marine mammal stranding records on the coast of Japan.


The Majority of Whale Research is done in laboratories on land, and most of the research does not require the capture and killing of whales.

[edit] Controversy

In an open letter to the Japanese government, published in 2002 in the New York Times, 21 distinguished scientists declared that they "believe Japan's whale "research" program fails to meet minimum standards for credible science". They were "concerned that Japan's whaling program is not designed to answer scientific questions relevant to the management of whales; that Japan refuses to make the information it collects available for independent review; and that its research program lacks a testable hypothesis or other performance indicators consistent with accepted scientific standards". They accused Japan of "using the pretense of scientific research to evade its commitments to the world community".[6] The Institute of Cetacean Research does not produce any peer-reviewed articles on cetacean science.

Three marine researchers responded with a peer-reviewed article in which they defended Japan's whale "research" programs and accused the authors of the open letter of careless advocacy outside their fields of expertise.[7] A WWF functionary responded in the same journal, pointing out that "identical criticisms of Japanese whaling had been published by expert whale biologists on the International Whaling Commission's Scientific Committee" and that the three authors defending the Japanese programs had failed to disclose significant financial and organizational ties to the whaling industry.[8] In the same issue, twenty members of the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission confirmed "that the signers of the open letter correctly summarized criticisms made by researchers very familiar with Japanese scientific whaling", a fact omitted by the letter's critics, "betraying a selectiveness that pervades their article". According to them, "so little of any significance to IWC management can be obtained only from whaling catches that it is impossible to justify killing animals on this basis".[9]

The International Whaling Commission's Scientific Committee has repeatedly expressed concern for the objectives and results obtained by the ICR. In a resolution in 2007, the IWC noted that "none of the goals of JARPA 1 had been reached, and that the results of the JARPA 1 [Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the Antarctic] programme are not required for management under the RMP [Revised Management Procedure]" and called upon the Japanese government "to address the 31 recommendations listed in [the Scientific Committee's JARPA 1 report] to the satisfaction of the Scientific Committee" and "to suspend indefinitely the lethal aspects of JARPA II conducted within the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary".[10]

In 2008 the ICR was criticized when photographs released by the Australian government showed pictures of the ICR harpoon ship Yushin Maru 2 killing several different whales, and a mother whale and her calf being taken onboard the Nisshin Maru for processing. [11]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3325580.ece | date = 8 February 2008
  2. ^ a b "About ICR". Institute of Cetacean Research. http://www.icrwhale.org/abouticr.htm. Retrieved on 2009-02-11. 
  3. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3325580.ece | date = 8 February 2008
  4. ^ http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aPhG1CfyPue0 | date = 30 May 2007
  5. ^ IRC Research Results IRC, 5 June 2009]
  6. ^ An open letter to the government of Japan on "scientific whaling", New York Times, May 2002.
  7. ^ Aron, William; Burke, William; Freeman, Milton (2002), "Scientists versus Whaling: Science, Advocacy, and Errors of Judgment", BioScience 52: 1137–1140 
  8. ^ Mott, Richard N. (2003), "Neutral Judges in a Debate on Scientific Merits?", BioScience 53: 203–204 
  9. ^ Clapham, Philipp J.; et al. (2003), "Whaling as Science", BioScience 53: 210–212 
  10. ^ "Resolution 2007-1; Resolution on JARPA". http://www.iwcoffice.org/meetings/resolutions/Resolution2007-1.pdf. 
  11. ^ Australia has 'shocking' evidence of Japan's whaling: minister, http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jXNhKsPXFcVHEytPDe2fdRphchiA, retrieved on 2008.02.07. 

[edit] External links

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