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117. Objective No. 3. The third objective concerns stock structure. With regard to fin
whales, the programme’s objective is to compare current stock structure to historic information on
that species. With regard to humpback whales and Antarctic minke whales, the plan describes a
need “to investigate shifts in stock boundaries” on a yearly basis.
118. Objective No. 4. The fourth objective concerns the management procedure for
Antarctic minke whale stocks and builds upon the other three objectives. The JARPA II Research
Plan states that the first objective will provide information on biological parameters “necessary for
managing the stocks more efficiently under a revised RMP”, the second objective “will lead to
examining a multi-species management model for the future”, and the third “will supply
information for establishing management areas in the Antarctic Ocean”. According to the Research
Plan, the information relating to the “effects arising from inter-species relationships among the
whale species” could demonstrate that the determination of a catch quota for Antarctic minke
whales under the RMP would be too low, perhaps even set unnecessarily at zero. As noted above
(see paragraph 107), the Parties disagree about the type of information necessary to implement the
RMP.
(ii) Research period and area
119. Japan explains that JARPA II is “a long-term research programme and has no specified
termination date because its primary objective (i.e., monitoring the Antarctic ecosystem) requires a
continuing programme of research”. JARPA II is structured in six-year phases. After each
six-year phase, a review will be held to consider revisions to the programme. The first such
six-year phase was completed after the 2010-2011 season. Following some delay, the first periodic
review of JARPA II by the Scientific Committee is scheduled to take place in 2014.
120. The JARPA II Research Plan operates in an area that is located within the Southern
Ocean Sanctuary established in paragraph 7 (b) of the Schedule to the Convention.
(iii) Research methods and sample size
121. The Research Plan indicates that JARPA II is designed to use a mix of lethal and
non-lethal methods to pursue the research objectives, a point that Japan also made in these
proceedings.
122. Japan asserts that lethal sampling is “indispensable” to JARPA II’s first two objectives,
relating to ecosystem monitoring and multi-species competition modelling. The JARPA II
Research Plan explains that the third objective will rely on “genetic and biological markers” taken
from whales that have been lethally sampled in connection with the first two objectives, as well as
non-lethal methods, namely biopsy sampling from blue, fin and humpback whales.