WHALING: JARPA II LETHAL RESEARCH FLEET RETURNS

UNCLAS TOKYO 002229

SIPDIS

STATE FOR D, G and OES/OA - MHAYES AND EAP/J - KMIDHA
USDOC FOR NOAA/NMFS - US IWC COMMISSIONER HOGARTH AND
McCARTHY

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV EFIS KSCA IWC JA ETRD
SUBJECT: WHALING: JARPA II LETHAL RESEARCH FLEET RETURNS

REF: A) 05 TOKYO 2193; B) 05 TOKYO 2932;
C) 05 TOKYO 6131; D) 06 TOKYO 2073

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SUMMARY
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1. The first of Japan's expanded lethal research whaling
expeditions under JARPA II returned to Japan from the
Antarctic on April 14. The Institute of Cetacean
Research (ICR) praised the new research program as having
been "successfully conducted", but will now turn to the
difficult task of trying to sell the whale meat in a glut
market. The meat from the 853 minke and 10 fin whales,
double the number of minke taken in previous years under
JARPA, is currently refrigerated in Tokyo and Kanazawa in
north-central Japan, while the ICR and the Fisheries
Agency of Japan (FAJ) work on a national sales strategy.
The wholesale price of minke whale red meat, regarded as
the highest quality part of the whale used for sashimi,
will be set at Yen 1,950 (USD 16) per kilogram, a 19
percent decrease from the price set under JARPA in 2004
and 2005. The price of fin whale is expected to be about
the same. After the FAJ approves a sales plan, the ICR
expects to start selling the meat as soon as possible,
from June at the latest. END SUMMARY

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JARPA II Delivers As Promised
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2. On April 14, the whaling mothership Nisshin Maru
arrived back in Japan at Kanazawa Port, northern-central
Japan, from its five months-plus voyage conducting lethal
resarch in the Antarctic under the Second Phase of
Japan's Whale Research Program under Special Permit
(JARPA II). Three sampling/sighting vessels, the Yushin
Maru, Yushin Maru No.2, and Kyo Maru No. 1, arrived in
Shimonoseki, southern Japan, on April 13, while the
sighting vessels, Kyoshin Maru No. 2, reached Oi Wharf in
Tokyo on April 15, and Kaiko Maru made it to Shiokama,
northern Japan, on April 16. According to the ICR's
press release (para 10),the first expedition under JARPA
II took 853 minke whales (462 males; 391 females) and 10
fin whales (4 males; 6 females) as planned (minke whale:
850 plus/minus 10 percent; fin whale: 10). Because of
the January 8 confrontation with the Greenpeace vessel
Arctic Sunrise, the central part of the Nisshin Maru was
dented. The vessel also sustained other damages, such as
"scars made with knives", according to the April 18 issue
of the Suisan Keizai Shimbun, a fisheries trade
newspaper.


3. Asked how the crew members were able to double the
harvest from previous years, Hideki Moronuki, Deputy
Director for the Far Seas Fisheries Division at the FAJ,
told us that previous JARPA cruises could have taken many
more whales, but had ended operations when the catch
limit was reached. Under JARPA II, part of the previous
"dead time" was used to kill more whales. In addition,
increasing the number of crewmembers from 202 to 252
enabled the crews to work in two groups in 24-hour
shifts, as opposed to only one group in previous years
(ref B).


4. With regard to the mothership's ability to process
the large fin whales, which had been in doubt, Hirohisa
Shigemune, from the Stock Research Department of Kyodo
Senpaku, which owns and operates the vessels, said that
"it was not a big deal", as the crews used two winches to
reel in the fin whales, whereas only one winch is
normally used for minkes. Veteran whalers with
experience catching fin and other large whales during the
heyday of commercial whaling are still active and shared
their experience as well, he added. The Japanese version
of the ICR's press release says that the JARPA II
expedition faced a one month-long "disturbance" from
Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, but
Shigemune said that, in fact, their attacks were
intermittent, resulting in only a half month's worth of
disruption.

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Now the Hard Part: Selling the Meat
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5. The meat from 853 minke whales and 10 fin whales is
currently refrigerated in Tokyo and Kanazawa in north-
central Japan. The ICR has not yet calculated the total
amount of meat from the harvest, but Takumi Ikeshima at
the Public Relations Department of the ICR estimates the
minke whale meat will amount to about 3,000 tons and the
fin whale meat about 250 tons. The wholesale price of
minke whale's red meat, regarded as the highest quality
part of the whale used for sashimi, has been set at Yen
1,950 (USD 16) per kilogram, a 19 percent decrease from
the price set under JARPA's 2004 and 2005 harvests. Fin
whale meat is expected to be priced at about the same
level.

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New Customers: Hospitals and Company Cafeterias?
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6. The ICR is currently discussing a sales strategy with
the FAJ, focusing on expanding the market and target
consumers. Ikeshima told EST FSN that the ICR considers
hospitals and company cafeterias as possible new
customers, on top of the current distribution routes such
as seafood markets and whale meat restaurants. Moronuki
said that the FAJ is "positively considering such plans"
since they would take advantage of the "low-calorie, high-
protein and, thus, healthy nature" of whale meat taken
from the Antarctic Ocean. After the Director-General of
the FAJ approves the sales plans, the ICR expects to
start selling the meat as soon as possible, from June at
the latest, according to Ikeshima.


7. To facilitate this expansion, industry observers say
that a new company will be established in early May to
sell whale meat and stimulate more consumption. The ICR
and/or Kyodo Senpaku will likely assume ther role of
parent company, said Naohiko Akimoto, staff writer on the
whaling beat at the Suisan Keizai Shimbun. According to
Akimoto, given that a total of 8,000 tons of whale meat
will be distributed in Japan in 2006, a number of food
processing companies have shown interest in entering the
whale meat industry, attracted by declining prices.


8. According to the online version of the Yomiuri
Shimbun's Kyushu (southern Japan) local edition, IRC
Executive Director Mitsuyoshi Murakami commented that he
"wished to appeal to the world to resume (commercial)
whaling, in light of JARPA II's completion". But ICR's
Ikeshima said that it would be impossible for Japan to
return to commercial whaling like the old days, due to
limited investments, manpower, and technology in the
Japanese whaling community.

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None Too Interested Japanese Media
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9. Despite the "successfully conducted" JARPA II and GOJ
proclamations that Japan's research whaling program was
now "supported by the entire nation" (ref D),most
Japanese media outlets, except for the fisheries trade
papers, virtually ignored the return of JARPA II story in
its nation-wide reportage. Major newspapers Yomiuri,
Asahi, Mainichi and NIKKEI carried the news in local
editions only.

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ICR Press Release
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10. The following is an English version of the ICR's
Press Release dated April 15, 2006:

Begin Press Release:

MEDIA RELEASE
15 April 2006

ANTARCTIC RESEARCH PROGRAM A SUCCESS

The Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) said today the
first cruise of its JARPA II program in the Antarctic was
successfully conducted and all scientific objectives were
met. The Antarctic research vessels arrived back in
Japan at the weekend to a fanfare from supporters and the
public.

Director General of the ICR, Dr. Hiroshi Hatanaka, said
today that despite efforts by anti-science organizations
Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd, the researchers were able to
meet their objectives, including the sampling of minke
and fin whales.

"Despite all claims from these people that their protests
had prevented us from obtaining our research quota, the
fact is that minke whales are so abundant that we
achieved our target - a statistically necessary number of
samples," Dr. Hatanaka said.

"In addition, we conducted a sighting survey with great
success and found that humpback and fin whales have
continuously increased with high reproduction rates. It
is clearly demonstrated again that the biomass of
humpback whales in the JARPA II research area is well
beyond that of minke whales."

The research vessels surveyed whale stocks over a
distance of 16,238.07 nautical miles. The total number
of whales sampled was 853 Antarctic minke whales (462
males, 391 females) and 10 Antarctic fin whales (4 males,
6 females).

During the two and half month expedition in the
Antarctic, scientists collected through non-lethal
research photographic data of natural marks from 13 Blue
whales, 34 Humpback whales and 38 Southern Right whales.
Biopsy samples were collected from 13 Humpback whales, 15
Southern Right whales, nine Fin whales, five Blue whales
and one Sei whale.

For further information contact: Mr. Hideki MORONUKI, Far
Seas Fisheries Division, Fisheries Agency, Ministry of
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tel: +81-3-3502-2443
Visit also: www.icrwhale.org

End of Press Release

DONOVAN