What is it about?
The paper demonstrates that Japanese whalers were systematically hunting under-sized sperm whales and then falsifying the catch data to cover up this illegal activity.
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Why is it important?
The paper is important because it highlights the existence of extensive falsified data in the International Whaling Commission's catch database (which is used in current population assessments), and also demonstrates the importance of complete transparency in whaling inspection programs.
Perspectives
This paper uses true catch data from illegal Soviet whaling operations to uncover similarly illegal whaling by Japan.
Dr Phillip J Clapham
NOAA
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: What's the catch? Validity of whaling data for Japanese catches of sperm whales in the North Pacific, Royal Society Open Science, July 2015, Royal Society Publishing,
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.150177.
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