Whai is Academic Purposes

Academic Purposes	Orca is categorized as "Threatened" by the Resources Evaluation, published by the Fisheries Agency in 1993, and is capture is not permitted unless it was for "academic purposes." CITES categorizes threatened species into three, and for the category I it is to abide by Article 2 and is to require strict regulation, stating that any commercial and non-commercial trade (except for some exceptional cases - such as "academic purposes") are forbidden. It seems then, the way to obtain regulated wildlife is to use this "academic research" channel. What do these "academic purposes" entail, then? As of now, we are not aware there exists any standard or criteria for such definition. The loose management and ambiguity of this trade regulation was also illuminated in 2004, when a bear farm in Kyushu was granted an import of an Indian Elephant, which was later invalidated after being pointed out by environmental groups. This problem is further complicated by the fact that the management of orcas falls under the jurisdiction of the Fisheries Agency that controls marine resources instead of the Ministry of the Environment that manages wildlife and endangered species. If a Ôthreatened speciesÓ is to be captured in the name of "academic purpose", under what guideline and who has recognized its academic importance for what reason should be made clear to the public. Furthermore, the guideline should ensure that the research must contribute to the prosperity of the species in the wild.