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JARPA
research results
Japan’s whale research program in the Antarctic (JARPA) began in 1987 in
response to claims of uncertain scientific information on whale stocks and
was conducted for 18 years. An
outcome of JARPA is that we now know more about the status of whale stocks
and whale biology than at any time in history and this knowledge continues
to increase each year. Based on the
results of JARPA, in 2005 Japan
began a new and expanded program called JARPA II.
As part of the results of
JARPA research from 1987 to 2006, scientists presented multiple scientific
documents to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) Scientific
Committee and had many papers published in
peer-reviewed journals.
Following a mid-term review in 1997, the most recent JARPA
review by the IWC’s Scientific Committee in December 2006 concluded that:
“the dataset provides
a valuable resource to allow investigation of some aspects of the role of
whales within the marine ecosystem and that this has the potential to make
an important contribution to the Scientific Committee’s work in this regard as well as the work of other relevant
bodies such as the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine
Living Resources” and,
“the results from the research program “have
the potential to improve management of minke whales in the Southern
Hemisphere”.
For further detail, see the reports from the IWC’s Scientific Committee 1997 mid-term
review and the December 2006 final review.
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