The Institute of Cetacean Research, which is conducting research on whales, has been conducting a survey from mid-March to investigate the detailed ecology, saying that the habitat of whales may have changed due to the rise in seawater temperature due to global warming. It was decided.
Japan has quietly withdrawn from the IWC = International Whaling Commission, and whaling vessels in Taiji Town, Wakayama Prefecture, have resumed commercial whaling in the waters near Japan.
According to the Fisheries Agency, the number of minke whales caught by small boats last year was 95, which is about 70% of the national upper limit of 132.
The Institute of Cetacean Research, which conducts research on whales, analyzes that minke whales may migrate to the waters near Japan about a month earlier than before, or their habitat may have changed to the north. doing.
I suspect that the reason for this is that the seawater temperature has risen due to the effects of global warming, and the places where sardines and krill are abundant have changed, and whales have moved following them.
In order to investigate the ecology of whales in detail, the institute will send a ship to investigate changes in habitat and seawater temperature from Fukushima prefecture to the Pacific Ocean off Aomori prefecture from March 15 with the assistance of the government. ..