1 SC/65b / SP01 Response to the ‘Panel Report of the JARPAII Special Permit Review Workshop’

The International Whaling Commission’s Scientific Committee (IWC SC) convened a workshop to review the progress made in the research conducted under the Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the Antarctic–Phase II (JARPA II) in its first six years (2005/06-2010/11). The review followed the guidelines specified in the Annex P. An international Panel of experts (Review Panel) carried out the review on the basis of 38 scientific papers prepared by the proponents, eight prepared by IWC SC members and five prepared by the proponents in response to some of the documents from the IWC SC members. Scientists involved in the JARPAII research participated in the workshop only to present papers on particular agenda items and to respond to questions of clarification and substance regarding the work that had been undertaken or further work that was expected to be undertaken. The report of the Review Panel is presented in document SC/65b/Repx. The present paper summarizes the views of scientists involved in the JARPAII research on the evaluation and scientific suggestions from the Review Panel. The scientists consider that, in general, the workshop report produced by the Review Panel represents a fair and balanced evaluation of the work conducted by the JARPAII in its first six years. The Review Panel welcomed the scientific contribution of JARPA/JARPAII. At the same time it identified those areas where further work is required and provided suggestions and recommendations that if correctly implemented, will contribute to improve analyses from the first six years of research as well as future research