On November 23rd was held at Kaiyo University about the 5 orcas that were captured, for "academic purposes," off Taiji, Wakayama in 1997. The symposium marked the fact that 10 years had passed since the research started.
While the orcas were specifically captured for "academic purposes," none of the research has ever been made public.

The main purposes of the symposium were to release a report providing a 10 year summary of research and to provide an understanding of the changes that have　occurred in wild orca populations off the coast of Japan.

Details are as follows:

The chairman for the first section of the symposium was Dr.Seiji Osumi, honorary director of the Taiji Whale Museum. Professor Motoi Yoshioka of Mie University chaired the second section, while the third was chaired by Mr.Uchida, a director of the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, who both serve as advisers to the Taiji Whale Museum.
The Mayor of the town of Taiji sat next to the Fishery Agencies staff in charge of whale issues in front of the speaker desk.

Many people in the wildlife protection community believe the symposium was held as a vehicle for introducing a new plan to capture orcas, something that was first discussed last year.

§1. The first section of the symposium dealt primarily with changes to wild orca populations and aspects of orca ecology. Dr.Tomio Miyashita and Dr.Toshihide Iwasaki from the National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries made presentations and Dr.Ueda from the Institute of Cetacean Research made a presentation about genetic research and how it relates to the social history of orcas.

The report of the ICR sighting survey, based on eyewitness observations of wild orcas, indicated that orcas off the Japanese coast are frequently sighted north of the Hokkaido area, while sightings in the Pacific south of 40 N.L. are low. However, it is important to note that individual identification of orcas and the analysis of biopsies, both important methods, have not been carried out.

It is still unclear about the relationship between and the continuity of Japanese and Russian orca populations, such as the Kamchatka region which has a high frequency of orca sightings. As well, almost nothing is known about changes in individual populations and their prey, and the findings off Taiji, where the capture is expected, are mostly absent.

It was suggested that the orcas did not reside permanently in one area because the research sightings were not consistent.

Categorization, based on orca ecotypes, was added as an overseas research report, but it is still unclear how much this of research is going on in Japan.

Three primary concerns were identified for the future.
They are, changes in 1) orca stocks; 2) prey; 3) social structure.
These issues were summarized by ecotypes.

Dr.Iwasaki said making resource assessment is not well-timed under such a circumstance although the capture for scientific purpose is another issue.

§2. The second section started with a report about breeding research in Kamogawa Sea World, which has successfully bred orcas.
The speaker talked about sexual maturity, changes in blood hormones of captive orcas, as well as the past 6 pregnancies and 5 deliveries.
The three aquariums and the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium each talked about the 5 orcas captured in 1997.
The three aquariums used to keep them and the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium has kept one orca from the Taiji Whale Museum, in the name of a ‘breeding loan,’ since 2003.

The Taiji Whale Museum talked about the capture and transportation of orcas and Adventure World spoke about food, the captive environment and diseases. Izu Mito Sea Paradise presented changes in the orca hormones, and the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium discussed health management, enrichment and the improvement of captivity techniques. They showed only limited data.

They mentioned that the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium keeps Coo for breeding purposes, but they did not give a clear answer to the audience about the possibility of breeding, or concrete future plans for accomplishing this. The Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium keeps him on loan using a system in place for breeding.

• These reports at the symposium made it clear that researching orcas in captivity does not contribute at all to the understanding of the living conditions of orcas on the coast.


• Although the orcas were captured for scientific purposes, the above aquariums have not worked cooperatively until recently. We could say the research has not been conducted with any detailed plans.


• In addition, at this time we cannot find any detailed plans with a vision for the future.


• It seems clear that they do not consider how a potential introduction of orcas to aquariums would effect individual wild populations.


• It is easy to surmise that the potential capture under such circumstance would damage our understanding of the ecology of the orcas.

§3. In the third section, researchers presented their case studies. The topics were as follows:

Orcas in Northern Pacific Ocean - Findings by the research whaling (It reported cases of orcas attacking Brydes whales.)

Orcas off Ogasawara islands and the status of their data collection (There are a few sightings of orcas off Ogasawara islands, but the information is limited only to fishermen's sighting reports and no other data, like photos, are available.)

Distribution and organization of orcas around Hoppo Islands (The distribution of orcas and other marine mammals correlated around Hoppo Islands.)

Stomach contents of the mass-stranded orcas off Rausu, Hokkaido (Rausu orcas were mainly eating seals.)

• Judging from the fact that the vomit of an orca captured in 1997 consisted of minke whale blubber, it is likely that orcas found in Japanese seas mainly eat marine mammals.


• They are quite possibly transient orcas because no reports show they permanentaly habituate the coast, and they are seen traveling off Ogasawara and around Wakayama.

§ The general discussion at the fourth section did not have enough time.
Dr.Kato therefore named the speakers.
In that discussion, they concluded that future research at aquariums will focus on breeding, like that of Coo at Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium.
However, the conclusion was vague because they did not decide which way to take in the future - an artificial breeding or an introduction of male orcas.

Dr.Kato suggested that aquariums are not related to conservation of species and they should be more concerned about financial management.
Dr.Osumi said capturing further orcas is a way not to waste the past 10 years since there are many orcas and he also said Fishery Agencies should make more effort.
A lot of attention was paid to these two individuals during the discussion

In the midst of such a discussion around "academic captures", if another permit to capture orcas is issued, the quality of Japanese cetacean research and those involved will be questioned by the international community, about how we see species preservation and biological diversity.