David @ Tokyo

A local Japanese newspaper has a report of another by-caught minke whale.

My summary translation is below.

Labels: whale by-catch, whale meat market

Local Japanese media in Iwate, north western Japan covered the story of a humpback whale by-catch in the town of Miyako (also the site of a fin-whale by-catch last December).

The Web Iwate Nippo story has a picture of the humpback lifted up in the air by a crane, and the Asahi's Iwate edition subsequently pictures the humpback in the back of a truck.

The incident happened on the 24th of September, with the humpback being landed at a local fisheries market. People there were surprised as there hasn't been a humpback landing there in recent years.

Labels: humpbacks, whale by-catch

Another by-catch incident in Iwate was reported in the Japanese media.

This time thankfully it wasn't another endangered western gray whale, but a more common fin whale.

The Iwate edition of the Asahi Shimbun has the story (see the original article for a good photo), my rough translation follows:

11-metre whale caught in set net - Iwaizumi town
2007/12/18

A huge baleen whale measuring 10.75 metres in length was found caught in a set net belonging to the Komoto bay fisheries cooperative of Iwaizumi town on the morning of the 17th. It took all of 27 set net fishermen to bind the whale to a boat and bring it back to shore, where it was landed by a large truck at the Miyako market.

According to the set net's lead fisherman, Ichiro Miura (42), when the salmon set net was checked at around 9 A.M., a whale was found entangled in it, already limp.

After receiving notification from prefectural authorities, the Institute of Cetacean Research (Tokyo) investigated and advised that the whale was a large fin whale, which can grow up to 20 metres. As for whales entangled in set nets which can not be set free, except in the case of specially designated species, it is possible to sell whale carcases under Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries law. This whale too was quickly put to auction as soon as necessary procedures, including the preservation of a sample from the whale's fin for DNA examination, were completed.

With fin whales falling in the "high-class item" category amongst whale species, a Miyagi prefecture dealer bought the whale for 7,000,000 yen. Even the initially sober faced Miura, who had been lamenting the ruin of his net, said "Great, I got a bonus", after fetching the unexpectedly high price.

Another article notes the Miyagi buyer was a marine products processor, and the whale was cut up at the market. The ICR was also quoted again, noting that fin whales are found throughout the world, but are rarely landed in Japan. Most whales landed off the coast of Iwate are apparently minke whales, and they tend to be caught off the Ofunato coast, in the south of Iwate (Miyako city is further north). A Miyako market related person said that usually they will only see about 1 whale a year there, and was surprised to see such a large one come in.

Incidentally, 7,000,000 yen is more than $60,000 USD at today's exchange rate. It's not clear exactly how much meat was obtained, but it seems like a pretty good deal compared with the regulated whole-sale prices.

Labels: whale by-catch, whale meat market

In late March, the Yomiuri Newspaper online edition had a story back from central Japan about a rare occurrence - a humpback whale entanglement in a fixed net. Here's the photo from the article and my translation below:

Whale caught in fixed net! Landed in Mie - fetches 3.6 million yen at auction

Early on the morning of the 23rd, a fishing boat belonging to the Miyama fishery cooperative discovered a Humpback whale (9.65 metres in length, weighing 9.8 tonnes) caught in a fixed net in the Kumanonada area about 2 kilometres from the coast of Mie prefecture's Kihoku town. The whale was brought to the town's Hikimoto port, and sold at auction. A dealer from Wakayama prefecture bought the whale for 3.6 million yen.

According to the Mie prefecture Agriculture and Fisheries commerce and industry department, with the exception of some rare species, it is possible to dispose of whales caught in fixed nets via the market, and Association Chief Satoshi commented that "the whale appeared likely to die, so we landed it after discussions with the Japanese Whaling Association".

The rare event at one point saw more than 100 people gather at the port to see the sight (=photo=). Local resident Toyoko Nakamura (71) was one of those surprised at the event. "I've been living in this town for almost 50 years, but this is the first time I've ever seen a whale landed here".

Yotsuo Asano of the Toba Aquarium said "In winter, whales breed in the ocean to the south, and head north from December to May. During the migration they sometimes get stuck in nets."

(2007 / 3 / 24 - Yomiuri Shinbun)

The ICR maintains a "stranding record" of cetaceans that strand, wash ashore, or are otherwise caught in fixed nets and so forth. This is important information to have from a conservation and resource management perspective, as information on human induced whale mortality is needed for efficient implementation of the IWC's Revised Management Procedure.

I don't have a summary of these figures, but from previous glances at this record, when large whales are caught in fixed nets they tend (95% of the time) to be minke whales. There are other occurrences of humpbacks, but not many.

Incidently, the price of 3.6 million yen for the whale seems like a pretty good deal. Optimistically there might be 5 tonnes of meat on the whale, which would mean selling on at a price of 720 yen per kilogram just to nearly break even. Regular wholesale prices are just under 2000 yen.

* * *

This Japanese site has some pictures of different types of fixed nets.

Labels: humpbacks, whale by-catch, whale meat market

As I reported a few weeks back, a 4th Western Gray Whale unfortunately died when it became entangled in a set fishing net off the coast of Iwate. The IUCN picked up on it a week later, issuing this news release.

Yomiuri Shinbun's "Sports Hochi" has subsequently reported the IUCN response in the Japanese media in this article, which notes the general points (no time to translate, sorry - maybe later).

Labels: gray whale, threats to whales, whale by-catch

Bad news today, another western gray whale has apparently died in a fixed fishing net off the coast of Iwate, north eastern Honshu.

Here's my translation of an January 20th article from Iwate Nippo on the subject (I think some of the information in this article is wrong, but I'll get to that later):

Gray whale caught in fixed net - Yoshihama bay, Ofunato

On the 19th, it was reported that a gray whale, a species with a high risk of extinction, became entangled in a fixed fishing net in Yoshihama bay, Sanriku, Ofunato city, and had been landed at Kamaishi city's Kamaishi Fish Market.

The whale was a female calf, of approximately 9.1 metres in length, and estimated to weigh around 7 tonnes. It had already died by the time it was discovered, and was dissected after samples were taken by the Institute of Cetacean Research (Tokyo city). The remains will be destroyed at a Kamaishi incineration plant sometime after the 20th.

According to the Fisheries Agency, fishermen discovered the gray whale entangled in a set net on the morning of the 18th, in the northern end of Yoshihama bay, in Sanriku, Ofunato city. It was pulled to Kamaishi Fish Market, where they inquired to the Fisheries Agency, at which point it was identified as a gray whale. The carcass was dissected on the morning of the 19th after researchers from the institute had completed their investigations.

According to the Fisheries Agency, there are around 100 gray whales in the coastal waters of Asia. A ministerial ordinance was revised in 2001 which, only in the case of entanglement in fixed fishing nets, made possible the sale of proceeds of whale carcasses upon submission of a written report and other procedures. However, a representative of the Fisheries Agency Far Seas Division said "The gray whale is an endangered species, and in consideration of international criticism, we have ruled that the proceeds not be sold".

There were also notifications in 2005 of a grey whale being found in Tokyo bay, and two more off the coast of Onagawa, Miyagi. These three whales also died.

An expert in whale ecology, Mr. Yamada of the No. 1 Animal laboratory at the National Science Museum, analysed the event. "It seems that the whale became entangled in the fixed fishing net while migrating to it's breeding grounds in Mexico. This species travels close to the coastline, so there is the chance of entanglement in fixed fishing nets."

According to the prefecture's fisheries promotion division, there are no prior occurrences of gray whales being entangled in Iwate prefecture. Each year, around 10 minke whales, for which it is permitted to market the proceeds only in the case of entanglement in fixed nets, are landed. In 2006 14 whales were marketed.

[Photo: The head of the gray whale landed at Kamaishi Fish Market, at 10:00 on Jan 19 (courtesy of the Fisheries Agency)]

An earlier article at Nikkan Sports notes that the Institute of Cetacean Research confirmed that the whale was a gray whale, with a representative quoted as saying "it is rare to find gray whales in the seas off Touhoku" (for those unfamiliar with Japanese geography, Touhoku is the north eastern part of the main island of Honshu).

As for the theory of Mr. Yamada at the National Science Museum, I think he's got it wrong. As far as I know the gray whale that breeds in Mexican waters is the fully recovered eastern gray whale, as opposed to the western gray whale that the FAJ representatives are quoted as identifying the specimen as.

This is now the 4th occurrence of a gray whale dying in 2 years, which will again see the issue raised at this year's IWC Scientific Committee meeting. There is coverage of the entanglements on page 12~13 of Annex F of the 2006 IWC/SC report.

An interesting point is that the entanglement and subsequent death of the two whales that died off the coast of Miyagi (immediately south of Iwate) in 2005 occurred in July, at a very different time of year, yet a very similar location.

Regarding the ministerial ordinance of 2001, readers who are literate in Japanese can find materials related to this here, but to briefly summarize a pertinent point, the law makes possible the sale of whales entangled in fixed nets, but whales protected under the marine resource conservation law are not allowed to be sold, even in the case of by-catch in fixed fishing nets. Material on the Internet suggests that officially species falling into this special protection category are

• Blue whale
• Bowhead whale
• Finless Porpoise

However I also have heard from a Japanese NGO spokesperson that the whaling section of the Fisheries Agency's Far Seas Division said that the western gray whale will also be placed on the list. As far as I can tell, this still doesn't seem to have happened as of yet.

Ironically, reports at the time of the 2001 revision note that it was necessary to explicitly exclude the Blue whale and Bowhead whale from the sale of by-catch provisions, although there were in fact no records of Blue whale or Bowhead whale entanglement having ever occurred. Unfortunately, it has been the gray whale that has suddenly had a spurt of entanglements in a short space of time.

While the officials did the appropriate thing by directing that the carcass of this latest entangled gray whale be incinerated (as it would be were it on the protected list), I hope to see the species explicitly listed sooner rather than later. This may help to raise awareness of the problem this species is facing.

Labels: gray whale, threats to whales, whale by-catch