TAS: International whale researchers set sail from Hobart

AAP General News (Australia)
12-19-2003
TAS: International whale researchers set sail from Hobart

By Libby Sutherland

HOBART, Dec 19 AAP - Australia has renewed a call for an end to whaling as international
researchers headed to sea to complete a head count of minke whales in Antarctic waters.

Two Japanese ships, the Shonan Maru and Shonan Maru 2, left Hobart today to conduct
the 2003/04 International Whaling Commission-Southern Ocean Whale and Ecosystem Research
(IWC-SOWER) circumpolar cruise.

The expedition, which will not (not) involve the capture or killing of animals, comes
ahead of an IWC review of the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary in mid-2004.

Federal Environment Minister Dr David Kemp welcomed the willingness of Japan to support
the non-lethal research, endorsed by the IWC, to be conducted on the cruise.

Although a moratorium on commercial whaling was introduced in 1985/86, Japan harvests
about 440 minke whales each year from the Antarctic for "scientific purposes" - which
is allowed under a IWC loophole.

Critics, including Dr Kemp, describe the practice as thinly-disguised commercial whaling.

"Japan should cease its lethal whaling as requested by the IWC," he said.

Cruise leader and marine biologist Paul Ensor said the voyage would gather data to
assess minke whale abundance in the Ross Sea region of the Antarctic.

On board will be a team of eight scientists from New Zealand, Japan, the USA and Chile
and 34 crew, including six professional whale spotters.

"The area we are going to is really directly south of New Zealand," Mr Ensor said.

"In terms of the whole of the Antarctic, it is the last remaining unsurveyed area in
this series of cruises.

"There is no current abundance estimate of minke whales in the Antarctic and this cruise
should provide the final bit of information to make a current estimate."

The comprehensive headcount, to be analysed in St Andrews, Scotland, and presented
to the IWC in mid-2004, is expected to assist in conserving and managing the marine mammals.

Dr Kemp said the study would play a crucial role in highlighting why the Southern Ocean
sanctuary should be retained by the IWC.

"The objectives of the sanctuary are the recovery of depleted whale populations and
appropriate monitoring and research," he said.

"The sanctuary needs to be retained so it can continue to meet those objectives."

Mr Ensor said efforts to finalise the minke whale survey last summer were hampered
by bad weather.

"We tried to do this area last year, but there was a very large iceberg in the Ross
Sea and that caused unusual sea ice conditions," he said.

"We should see hundreds or thousands on this cruise."

Scientists will also be collecting samples from the true and pygmy species of blue
whale to try and discriminate between the subspecies.

"The overall aim is to assess numbers of blue whales, but first we need to assess the
proportions of the two subspecies in the Antarctic," Mr Ensor said.

Mr Ensor, a New Zealander who spends the northern summer surveying minke whales in
the Arctic region, said the 81-day expedition was due to return to Hobart on March 8,
2004.

AAP las/drp/de

KEYWORD: WHALES (PIC AVAILABLE)

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