• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.281-287
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• 2022

The distributions of common minke whales observed in the East Sea in ten surveys in May of 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2020 were investigated using satellite sea surface temperature (SST) derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS). Most of the minke whales were observed in the waters off the Korean Peninsula at 36-38.5° N, which is expected as the highly productive coastal upwelling area. Yet, no minke whale was observed in 2006 when a relatively larger scale coastal upwelling occurred with SST at 11℃. In 2016 and 2020, the warm water higher than 17℃ extended widely in the area, and the minke whales were observed in the offshore waters, deeper than 1,000 m. 87.5% of minke whales observed in May appeared in the SST from 13 to 16℃, and they seemed to avoid relatively high temperatures. This suggests that optimum habitat water temperature of minke whales in May is 13-16℃. The SST in the area had risen 1.67℃ from 2003 to 2021, and it was remarkably higher than in other parts of the surrounding areas. The future temperature rising may change the route and timing of the migration of minke whales in the study area.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.79-84
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• 2011

The status of J stock minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) was assessed using potential biological removal (PBR) and mortality data. Using the estimated abundance of minke whales in this area (6260; CV = 0.212), the minimum population estimate of the stock was estimated as 5247. The PBR for J stock minke whales was calculated as 52.5 individuals using the minimum population estimate (5247), one-half of the maximum theoretical net productivity rate (0.02) and the recovery factor (0.5). The estimated mean annual level of anthropogenic mortality was 270.4 individuals. Thus, the status of this stock was considered as strategic. However, fortunately, the abundance of this population in the East Sea from 2000 to 2008 showed an increasing trend (rate of increase 0.0488; annual rate of increase 5.0%) although it is not statistically significant (P > 0.05). The primary sources of anthropogenic mortality were bycatch (set nets, pots and gill nets) and illegal catch. Because of the status of this population, it is urgently necessary to reduce the amount of bycatch and illegal catch of minke whales. Further study needs to use population health and viability analysis for investigating the long-term survival of this population more clearly.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.291-296
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• 2010

Population ecological characteristics of growth and mortality play an important role in understanding the population dynamics of marine mammals. The instantaneous coefficients of natural and bycatch mortality were estimated for minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) in Korean waters using a population assessment model composed of bycatch and abundance data. The survivorship curve of this population was fitted to the data, and then the curve was revised using age-specific relative bycatchability coefficients ($q_t$). Instantaneous coefficients of natural and bycatch mortality of minke whales were estimated as 0.024/year and 0.076/year, respectively, and from this the survival rate was estimated as 0.905. This estimated survival rate was comparable to other cetaceans in other regions. The $q_t$ for this population ranged from 0.020 to 0.193. The revised survival rates were higher when the $q_t$ was taken into account. The mortality coefficient, survival rate, $q_t$ and survivorship curves had not previously been determined for minke whale in this area. This estimate could serve as fundamental information to assess the status of this population and for conservation and rational management.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.419-427
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• 2009

The Minke whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, is the smallest baleen whale in the suborder Mysticeti. Because this species inhabits coastal areas, it became a main target species of coastal small-type whaling in the North Atlantic and the Northwest Pacific Oceans, and the species' population size dramatically decreased because of over-exploitation. As a result, the International Whaling Commission declared a global moratorium on whaling and launched the development of a management procedure for protecting the whales. Morphological studies, whaling history analysis, and genetic studies conducted mainly by Japanese scientists showed the existence of one unique "E" stock that inhabits the waters around the Korean peninsula and mixes with the "O" stock in the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk. We used the mitochondrial DNA control region polymorphism of 348 Minke whales bycaught or stranded in Korean waters from 30 October 1998 to 25 June 2005 to assess the whale population structure by year. The frequency of the 10 major haplotypes from the 40 identified haplotypes was not significantly different among groups, suggesting that a subpopulation was not present. A comparison of the genetic distances calculated with Tamura-Nei's method showed that the distances between groups were lower than those within groups, which suggests that there was no genetic difference in the Minke whale populations. The Fst comparison between groups and the phylogenetic tree constructed using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) and Neighbor Joining (NJ) method also detected no obvious sub-stock structure.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.147-152
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• 2018

Underwater transient signals are complex, variable and nonlinear, resulting in a difficulty in accurate modeling with reference patterns. We analyze one type of underwater transient signals, in the form of whale sounds, using the MFCC(Mel-Frequency Cepstral Constant) and synthesize them from the MFCC and the weighted $L_2$-norm minimization techniques. The whales in this experiments are Humpback whales, Right whales, Blue whales, Gray whales, Minke whales. The 20th MFCC coefficients are extracted from the original signals using the MATLAB programming and reconstructed using the weighted $L_2$-norm minimization with the inverse MFCC. Finally, we could find the optimum weighted factor, 3~4 for reconstruction of whale sounds.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Fisheries Technology Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.423-425
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• 2001

The minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) is found in all the oceans of the world, and is a major whale species off the east coast of Korea. To estimate its abundance, the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI) of Korea performed ship surveys in June of 1999 and May of 2000. During these surveys, scientists found two interesting facts, i.e. most whales were sighted close to shore, and whales appeared to move north from May to June. (omitted)

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.892-900
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• 2013

In 2011, the system for conserving and managing cetacean resources in Korea changed. The status of the cetacean bycatch was analyzed using a distribution certificate that was issued by the coast guard. During 2011.2012, 12 species were bycatch in Korean waters: three species of baleen whale and nine species of dolphin. The finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides) was the dominant species, followed by the common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), and Pacific white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens). Among the baleen whales, the common minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) was first and Bryde's (Balaenoptera edeni) and humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) whales appeared in the Korea Strait and East Sea, respectively. Among the dolphins, the finless porpoise ranked first in the Yellow Sea. The common dolphin, Pacific white-sided dolphin, and harbor porpoise were more frequent in the East Sea than in other waters. The cetacean bycatch was caused mainly by pots, set nets, gill nets, and stow nets. Among the three species of baleen whale, the common minke whale was caught by pots and set nets, and comprised over 68.9% of the total bycatch in 2011 and 56.2% in 2012. Comparing the bycatch caused by fishing gears by area in 2011 and 2012, 97.9% and 99.6%, respectively, of the finless porpoise bycatch in the Yellow Sea was by stow nets. In the Korea Strait, trawl bycatch comprised 67.3% in 2011 and 73.0% in 2012, followed by gill nets, set nets, and pots targeting finless porpoise and common minke whales. In the East Sea, gill nets were responsible for 46.7% in 2011 and 61.2% in 2012, followed by set nets and pots.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.642-649
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• 2009

Line transect data from sighting surveys conducted in the East Sea, Korea in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006 were analysed to estimate densities and numbers of minke whale. The half-normal model was fit to the survey in 2000 and the uniform model was the most fitable to the survey in 2002 and 2006, and the surveys in 2003 and 2005 were fit by the hazard-rate model. The estimated density of minke whale in the survey in 2000 was estimated as 0.026 individuals/$km^2$ (CV=0.409; 95% CI 0.011-0.065) and was higher than the survey in 2002 estimated as 0.018 individuals/$km^2$ (CV=0.329; 95% CI: 0.009-0.034). The estimated density of minke whale in the survey in 2003 was estimated as 0.033 individuals/$km^2$ (95% CI: 0.008-0.139) with the highest CV 0.760. The highest density was estimated in the survey in 2005 with 0.053 individuals/$km^2$ (95% CI: 0.020-0.141). The Lowest CV (0.306) was estimated in the survey in 2006 with 0.025 individuals/$km^2$ (95% CI: 0.014-0.046). A total of 500 bootstrap samples were generated within each stratum. Density, CV and 95% CI of each surveys were increased than analytic results except the survey in 2003. There were no increasing or decreasing annual trends in the density of minke whales observed during the study period. A long-term monitor and survey is needed to assess project minke whale abundance in the East Sea.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.486-492
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• 2012

In the late 1970s, the National Fisheries Research & Development Institute (NFRDI) started cetacean research to submit the Korean whale catch record to the International Whaling Commission. This continued until the moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986. The NFRDI resumed cetacean research with a pilot whale sighting survey in 1999. Subsequently, the NFRDI has conducted 53 cetacean sighting surveys within the Korean exclusive economic zone between 2000 and 2010. The surveys took a total of 760 days and cruising for 23,866 nautical miles. The finless porpoise Neophocaena asiaeorientalis was sighted most frequently (735 times), followed by the minke whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata (396 times), the long-beaked common dolphin Delphinus capensis (102 times), and the Pacific white-sided dolphin Lagenorhynchus obliquidens (27 times). Minke whales were distributed in the Yellow Sea and coastal area of the East Sea from spring to fall. Pacific white-sided dolphin sightings were restricted to the middle and upper coastal areas of the East Sea in summer. Common dolphins were sighted from east of the southern coast to the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula from spring to fall. Finless porpoise occurred in all Korean coastal areas, except the middle and upper eastern coast.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.505-513
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• 2012

To determine the concentration of trace metals in the tissues of whale from the coastal ocean of Korea, we measured the concentration of trace metals (Cu, Cd, Pb, As, Zn and Hg) in the organs (liver, intestine, muscle, epidermis and blubber) of minke whale entangled from the eastern coast of Korea in 2009. The highest and lowest concentrations of Cu, Cd, Zn, and Hg were found in the liver and blubber, respectively. In contrast, the highest and lowest concentration of As was found in the blubber and muscle, respectively. The accumulation trend of trace metals in the organs of minke whales was in the order Zn > Cu > As > Pb > Hg > Cd. The concentrations of Cu, As and Zn in liver and epidermic were higher in male than in female, whereas the concentrations of Cu and Pb in intestine and muscle were higher in female than in male. The mature individuals of minke whale were much higher Cd in liver, Cd and Hg in muscle, As and Hg in epidermic and blubber, Cd, As and Hg in intestine than immature individuals of minke whale.