[2] Based on an aerial survey performed in waters between northern Disko Island (70°45'N) and Cape Farewell (60°N) during August and September 2005, there are estimated to be 4,856 individuals (95% confidence interval (CV): 1,910-12,348) off Western Greenland; a ship-based survey made during September and October of the same year came up with a similar estimate of 4,479 (95% CI: 1,760-11,394). Minke whales can be confused with sei whale and northern bottlenose whale unless head shape or flippers are seen. Dorsal fin: The dorsal fin of the minke whale has the classic curved “falcate” shape that we usually associate with whales and dolphins. Most of the length of the back, including dorsal fin and blowholes, appears at once when the whale surfaces to breathe.
This broadens to form a light gray shoulder patch above the flippers. The permitted catch for the initial season (July 1 - December 31, 2019) is 227 whales, of which 52 can be minke.
"A review on the status of bycatch minke whales in Korean waters". Minke whaling soon spread to the port of Kamaishi (1938), on the northeast coast of Honshu; Ogawajima (about 1951), on the west coast of Kyushu; and to Wakasa Bay and Aomori (both by 1957), the former on the west coast and the latter on the north coast of Honshu. Myself and fellow guides Ruth and Rabs got so aware of Knobble’s dorsal fin shape that when he/she surfaced close enough, we could recognise it with the naked eye and immediately shout…”Knobble!”. A limited number of reef tourism operators (based in Port Douglas and Cairns) have been granted permits by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to conduct these swims, given strict adherence to a code of practice, and that operators report details of all sightings as part of a monitoring program.
[50] Shallower dives of normally less than 40 m (130 ft) are made at night (from about 8 p.m. to about 2 a.m.) while deeper dives that can be over 100 m (330 ft) deep are made during the day (from about 2 a.m. to about 8 p.m.). Minke whales in Icelandic waters have a characteristic white band across their pectoral fins, a characteristic unique to North Atlantic minke whales. [128], There is no evidence minke whales were caught in Japan during the harpoon and net whaling eras. Tamura, T., Matsuoka, K., Bando, T., Mogoe, T., Konishi, K., Mori, M., Tsunekawa, M., Okamoto, K., Funasaka, N., Sakajiri, H., Yoshida, Y., Kumagai, S., Kimura, K., Takamatsu, T., Konagai, T., Sasaki, S., Kuwaoka, J., and Ogawa, T. (2007).
The body is usually black or dark-gray above and white underneath. From there, catches extended to the Korean Strait in May and the southwestern Sea of Japan from June to October. The quota for 2006 was set at 1,052 animals, but only 546 were taken. 2009. [174], Several minke whales have been briefly held in captive settings in Japan. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30], At sexual maturity, males and females in the North Atlantic average between 6.16–6.75 m (20.2–22.1 ft) and 6.03–7.15 m (19.8–23.5 ft), while in the North Pacific they average between 6.3–6.8 m (21–22 ft) and 7.1–7.3 m (23–24 ft). This shape is in contrast to the lack of a dorsal fin in the gray whale and the hump-like dorsal fin of the humpback whale. This method of whaling continued to be used until the 1880s.[121]. [5] In Japan they are called koiwashi-kujira ("little sardine whale") or minku-kujira ("minke whale"). They were caught by a succession of whale catchers – the 367-ton Koyo Maru 2 (1966–1971), the 306-ton Seiho Maru 2 (1971–1977), and the 395-ton Cabo Branco (also called Katsu Maru 10, 1977–1985) – up to 100 miles offshore and brought to the whaling station at Costinha, operated by the Compania de Pesca Norte do Brasil (COPESBRA) since 1911. The lower jaw projects beyond the upper jaw and is dark gray on both sides – though, like the dwarf form, it can have a white mandible blaze at the rear corner of the right lower jaw. [19], There have been two confirmed hybrids between Antarctic and common minke whales.
[78] It has been recorded in the Ross and Lazarev Seas, over Perth Canyon, off Western Australia from late June to early December,[79] and in the King Haakon VII Sea from April to December. "Vocalisations of minke whales, Mellinger, D. K., Carson, C. D., and Clark, C. W. (2000).
Chin-up blows were utilized often and performed by all five whales; it was the principal technique used by M1, M2, and M3 prior to a feeding lunge. The first minkes of the season were caught off western Kyushu and the Sea of Japan side of Honshu, where peak catches occurred from March to May and March to April, respectively; from there effort shifted to the Okhotsk Sea side of Hokkaido and Sanriku, where catches peaked in May for the former area and from April to May in the latter area.