Editing Gray whale (section)

====Recent migration in Asian waters====
[[File:Gray Whale, Aogashima, March 11, 2017 by Aurora Chihiro.jpg|thumb|Gray whale at [[Aogashima]], [[Izu Islands]] in March, 2017.]]
Even though [[South Korea]] put the most effort into conservation of the species among the Asian nations, there are no confirmed sightings along the Korean Peninsula or even in the Sea of Japan in recent years.

The last confirmed record in Korean waters was the sighting of a pair off [[Bangeojin]], [[Ulsan]] in 1977.<ref>{{cite web|author=Kim W.H., Sohn H.|author2=An Y-R.|author3=Park J.K.|author4=Kim N.D.|author5=Doo Hae An H.D.|year=2013|title=Report of Gray Whale Sighting Survey off Korean waters from 2003 to 2011|url=https://archive.iwc.int/?r=4795&k=a9d2de03fa|publisher=Cetacean Research Institute, [[National Fisheries Research & Development Institute]]|access-date=2014-05-18}}</ref> Prior to this, the last was of catches of 5 animals<ref name=GPR>[http://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/publications/reports/oceans/Disappearing%20Whales%20-%20South%20Korea.PDF Disappearing Whales: Korea's Inconvenient Truth] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305210932/http://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/Global/eastasia/publications/reports/oceans/Disappearing%20Whales%20-%20South%20Korea.PDF |date=2016-03-05 }}. Greenpeace (2012)</ref> off [[Ulsan]] in 1966.<ref name=GrayArea /> There was a possible sighting of a whale within the port of [[Samcheok]] in 2015.<ref>Hyun Woo Kim, Hawsun Sohn, Yasutaka Imai, 2018, Possible occurrence of a Gray Whale off Korea in 2015, International Whaling Commission, SC/67B/CMP/11 Rev1</ref>

There had been 24 records along Chinese coasts including sighting, stranding, intended hunts, and bycatches since 1933.<ref name=2011insights>{{cite journal|doi=10.1578/AM.41.3.2015.327 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281442497 |title=Short Note: Insights from a Gray Whale (''Eschrichtius robustus'') Bycaught in the Taiwan Strait Off China in 2011|journal=Aquatic Mammals |volume=41 |issue=3 |page=327 |year=2015 |last1=Xianyan |first1=Wang |last2=Min |first2=Xu |last3=Fuxing |first3=Wu |last4=Weller |first4=David W. |last5=Xing |first5=Miao |last6=Lang |first6=Aimee R. |last7=Qian |first7=Zhu }}</ref> The last report of occurrence of the species in Chinese waters was of a stranded semi adult female in the [[Bohai Sea]] in 1996,<ref name=GrayArea>{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275960466 |title=A Gray Area: On the Matter of Gray Whales in the Western North Pacific |date=2015-05-07 |access-date=2017-01-06}}</ref> and the only record in Chinese waters in the 21st century was of a fully-grown female being killed by entanglement in [[Pingtan County|Pingtan]], [[China]] in November, 2007.<ref name=Pingtan/> DNA studies indicated that this individual might have originated from the eastern population rather than the western.<ref name=2011insights />

Most notable observations of living whales after the 1980s were of 17 or 18 whales along [[Primorsky Krai]] in late October, 1989 (prior to this, a pair was reported swimming in the area in 1987), followed by the record of 14 whales in [[La Pérouse Strait]] on 13th, June in 1982 (in this strait, there was another sighting of a pair in October, 1987).<ref name=hkd2005>{{cite journal |url=http://hkd.a.la9.jp/jc/JC2005.pdf |title=Records of the western gray whale, ''Eschrichtius robustus'': its distribution and migration |journal=Japan Cetology |volume=20 |pages=21–29 |year=2010 |author=Nambu, Hisao |author2=Ishikawa, Hajime |author3=Yamada, Tadasu K. |name-list-style=amp |access-date=2015-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304040109/http://hkd.a.la9.jp/jc/JC2005.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead | issue=20 | doi=10.5181/cetology.0.20_21 }}</ref> In 2011, presences of gray whales were acoustically detected among pelagic waters in East China Sea between Chinese and Japanese waters.<ref>Gagnon, Chuck (November 2016) [https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/wgwap_17-inf.6_iwc_66-cc29_wgw_observations_east_china_sea.pdf Western gray whale activity in the East China Sea from acoustic data: Memorandum for Dr. Brandon Southall] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224235107/https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/wgwap_17-inf.6_iwc_66-cc29_wgw_observations_east_china_sea.pdf |date=2016-12-24 }}. iucn.org</ref>

Since the mid-1990s, almost all the confirmed records of living animals in Asian waters were from Japanese coasts.<ref>{{cite report|author=Kato H.|author2=Kishiro T.|author3=Bando T.|author4=Ohizumi H.|author5=Nakamura G.|author6=Okazoe N.|author7=Yoshida H.|author8= Mogoe T.|author9=Miyashita T.|url=https://archive.iwc.int/pages/search.php?search=!collection221&bc_from=themes|year=2015|title=Status Report of Conservation and Researches on the Western North Pacific Gray Whales in Japan, May 2014 – April 2015|journal=SC/66a/BRG|access-date=2016-02-23}}</ref> There have been eight to fifteen sightings and stray records including unconfirmed sightings and re-sightings of the same individual, and one later killed by net-entanglement. The most notable of these observations are listed below:

* The feeding activities of a group of two or three whales that stayed around [[Izu Ōshima]] in 1994 for almost a month were recorded underwater<ref name="Nakamura12"/> by several researchers and whale photographers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.juf.co.jp/english/|title=Japan Underwater Films |access-date=14 May 2015}}</ref>
* A pair of thin juveniles were sighted off [[Kuroshio, Kōchi]], a renowned town for whale-watching tourism of resident and sub-resident populations of [[Bryde's whale]]s, in 1997.<ref name=dbase>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060253/http://svrsh2.kahaku.go.jp/drift/FMPro?-db=rec2000web.fp5&-lay=hp&-format=%2Fdrift%2Fe%2Fdetail.htm&rec_id=19970722EX-032&-find Marine Mammals Stranding DataBase]. kahaku.go.jp</ref> This sighting was unusual because of the location on mid-latitude in summer time.
* Another pair of sub-adults were confirmed swimming near the mouth of Otani River in [[Suruga Bay]] in May, 2003.<ref name=geoc/>
* A sub-adult whale that stayed in the Ise and [[Mikawa Bay]] for nearly two months in 2012<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.beachland.jp/beach_blog/post/e5889de8a898e98cb2efbc81e4b889e6b2b3e6b9bee381a6e382b3e382afe382afe382b7e383a9.aspx |title=footage |publisher=Beachland.jp |access-date=2017-01-06 |archive-date=2017-06-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170627165031/http://www.beachland.jp/beach_blog/post/e5889de8a898e98cb2efbc81e4b889e6b2b3e6b9bee381a6e382b3e382afe382afe382b7e383a9.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.beachland.jp/beach/study/pdf/18.pdf 2012 年に漂着した海棲哺乳類につい] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427223722/http://www.beachland.jp/beach/study/pdf/18.pdf |date=2014-04-27 }}. .beachland.jp</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.beachland.jp/beach_blog/post/e4bc8ae58ba2e6b9bee381a6e382afe382b7e383a9e799bae8a68befbc81efbc81.aspx |title=伊勢湾でクジラ発見！！ |publisher=Beachland.jp |access-date=2017-01-06 |archive-date=2017-06-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170627171800/http://www.beachland.jp/beach_blog/post/e4bc8ae58ba2e6b9bee381a6e382afe382b7e383a9e799bae8a68befbc81efbc81.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> was later confirmed to be the same individual as the small whale observed off [[Tahara, Aichi|Tahara]] near [[Cape Irago]] in 2010,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.beachland.jp/beach_blog/post/e2809ce38395e383aae383b3e5b195e2809de3818be38289e2809ce382b3e382afe382afe382b7e383a9e5b195e2809de381b8.aspx |title="プリン展"から"コククジラ展"へ |publisher=www.beachland.jp |access-date=2017-01-06 |archive-date=2017-06-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170627150033/http://www.beachland.jp/beach_blog/post/e2809ce38395e383aae383b3e5b195e2809de3818be38289e2809ce382b3e382afe382afe382b7e383a9e5b195e2809de381b8.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> making it the first confirmed constant migration out of Russian waters. The juvenile observed off [[Owase]] in Kumanonada Sea in 2009 might or might not be the same individual. The Ise and Mikawa Bay region is the only location along Japanese coasts that has several records since the 1980s (a mortal entanglement in 1968, above mentioned short-stay in 1982, self-freeing entanglement in 2005),<ref name="shikoku-np.co.jp"/><ref name=dbase/> and is also the location where the first commercial whaling started. Other areas with several sighting or stranding records in recent years are off the Kumanonada Sea in [[Wakayama Prefecture|Wakayama]], off  [[Oshika Peninsula]] in [[Tōhoku]], and on coastlines close to [[Tomakomai]], [[Hokkaido]].
* Possibly the first confirmed record of living animals in Japanese waters in the Sea of Japan since the end of whaling occurred on 3 April 2014 at Nodumi Beach, [[Teradomari, Niigata]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Birdnetmaster|year=2015|title=2014年 日本海に出現したコククジラ / Grey whale 2014 Sea of Japan|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS5b6Quo8hs| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211118/FS5b6Quo8hs| archive-date=2021-11-18 | url-status=live|publisher=[[YouTube]]|access-date=2015-10-14}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|author=Aoyagi A. |author2=Okuda J. |author3=Nambu H. |author4=Honma Y. |author5=Yamada K. T. |author6=Satou T. |author7=Ohta M. |author8=Ohara J. |author9=Imamura M. |title=2014年春に新潟県信濃川大河津分水路河口付近に出現したコククジラの観察 |journal=Japan Cetology |volume=24 |year=2014 |pages=15–22 |doi=10.5181/cetology.0.24_15 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.47news.jp/smp/localnews/toretate/2014/04/post_20140404142744.php|title=寺泊沖にクジラ現る・長岡 「生きたまま初めて見た」地元驚き|publisher=The 47NEWS|access-date=14 May 2015}}</ref> Two individuals, measuring ten and five metres respectively, stayed near the mouth of [[Shinano River]] for three weeks.<ref name=SC65bBRG12/> It is unknown whether this was a cow-calf pair, which would have been a first record in Asia. All of the previous modern records in the Sea of Japan were of by-catches.<ref name=HKD2402 />
* One of the above pair returned on the same beaches at the same time of a year in 2015.<ref name=Niigata2015>{{cite web|year=2015 |title=Nearly extinct western gray whale sighted again in coastal waters off Niigata |url=http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/112273.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304071001/http://newsonjapan.com/html/newsdesk/article/112273.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=2016-03-04 |work=Asahi }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author= Itou K.|year=2015|title=絶滅危惧のコククジラ、２年連続で現れた 新潟・長岡|url=http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASH4N5V61H4NUOHB01S.html|newspaper=The [[Asahi Shimbun]] |access-date=2015-10-13}}</ref>
*A juvenile or possibly or not with another larger individual remained in Japanese waters between January or March and May 2015.<ref>{{cite web|author=Takanawa N.|year=2015|title=【フォトギャラリー】伊豆諸島で見つかった希少なコククジラ|url=http://natgeo.nikkeibp.co.jp/atcl/web/15/360768/041600002/?ST=m_column|publisher=Japanese office of the [[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]]|access-date=2015-10-14}}</ref> It was first confirmed occurrences of the species on remote, oceanic islands in Japan. One or more visited waters firstly on [[Kōzu-shima]] and [[Nii-Jima]] for weeks then adjacent to [[Miho no Matsubara]] and behind the [[Tokai University]] campus for several weeks.<ref>{{cite web|year=2015|title=コククジラ in 日本（超貴重）Western Gray Whale sightings (Extremely Rare!) |url=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAILdeR3ZgA6mL0--dtsXHAALevCsK7kJ|publisher=[[YouTube]]|access-date=2015-10-14}}</ref> Possibly the same individual was seen off Futo as well.<ref name=oceana>{{cite web|url=https://oceana.ne.jp/domestic/59265 |title=ダイビング中にコククジラと遭遇のミラクル！ ～房総半島・西川名と伊豆半島・赤沢で相次ぐ～ ｜ オーシャナ |publisher=Oceana.ne.jp |date=2016-01-19 |access-date=2017-01-06}}</ref> This later was identified as the same individual previously recorded on Sakhalin in 2014, the first re-recording one individual at different Asian locations.<ref name=2015Rematch>{{cite conference|last1=Weller|first1=D. W.|last2=Takanawa|first2=N.|first3=H.|last3=Ohizumi|first4=N.|last4=Funahashi|first5=O. A.|last5=Sychenko|first6=A. M.|last6= Burdin|first7=A. R.|last7=Lang|first8=R. L.|last8=Brownell Jr.|year=2015|url=https://archive.iwc.int/pages/search.php?search=!collection221&bc_from=themes|title=Photographic match of a western gray whale between Sakhalin Island, Russia, and the Pacific Coast of Japan. Paper SC/66a/BRG/17|book-title=International Whaling Commission, Scientific Committee (SC66a meeting)|location=San Diego, USA}}</ref>
* A young whale was observed by land-based fishermen at Cape Irago in March, 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/ryo.okamoto.902/videos/744000622363775/ |title=Ryo Okamoto – 伊良湖岬で釣りしてたら、クジラ出現。... |publisher=Facebook |date=2015-03-23 |access-date=2017-01-06}}</ref>
* One of the above pair appeared in 2015 off southeastern Japan and then reappeared off [[Tateyama, Chiba|Tateyama]] in January, 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ei7s8Rfqa8 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211118/7ei7s8Rfqa8| archive-date=2021-11-18 | url-status=live|title=今日のコククジラ 館山 西川名 201601f |publisher=YouTube |date=2016-01-09 |access-date=2017-01-06}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The identity of this whale was confirmed by Nana Takanawa who photographed the same whale on Niijima in 2015.<ref>Braulik, Gill (2015-04-16) [https://web.archive.org/web/20160123234348/https://www.iucn-csg.org/index.php/2015/04/16/1940/ Young Gray Whale Sighted near Tokyo Islands]. IUCN SSC – Cetacean Specialist Group</ref> Likely the same individual was sighted off Futo<ref name=oceana /> and half an hour later off Akazawa beach in [[Itō, Shizuoka]] on the 14th.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML7xk3FXosQ | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211118/ML7xk3FXosQ| archive-date=2021-11-18 | url-status=live|title=赤沢 コククジラ 2016.1.14 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=2017-01-06}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ds-mieux.com/?p=19346 |title=伊豆のダイビングサービス &#124; ダイビングサービス mieux -みう- &#124; クジラが～！！ |date=14 January 2016 |publisher=Ds-mieux.com |access-date=2017-01-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/ds.mieux/videos/1695723133979427/?fref=nf |title=動画っす(｀_´)ゞ – ダイビングサービス mieux – みう |publisher=Facebook |date=2016-01-13 |access-date=2017-01-06}}</ref> The whale then stayed next to a pier on [[Miyake-jima]] and later at Habushi beach on Niijima, the same beach the same individual stayed near on the previous year.
* One whale of {{convert|9|m|ft}} was beached nearby [[Wadaura Station|Wadaura]] on March 4, 2016.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160305073024/http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20160305/k10010432701000.html 絶滅心配 コククジラの死骸 千葉・南房総で見つかる]. nhk.or.jp (2015-05-03)</ref> Investigations on the corpse indicate that this was likely a different individual from the above animal.
* A {{convert|7|m|ft}} carcass of young female was firstly reported floating along [[Atami]] on 4 April then was washed ashore on [[Itō, Shizuoka|Ito]] on the 6th.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digital.izu-np.co.jp/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420005528/http://izu-np.co.jp/ito/news/20160407iz0000000007000c.html|url-status=dead|title=伊豆新聞デジタル – IZU SHIMBUN DIGITAL --|archive-date=April 20, 2016|website=伊豆新聞デジタル}}</ref>
* As of April 20, 2017, one or more whale(s) have been staying within [[Tokyo Bay]] since February although at one point another whale if or if not the same individual sighted off [[Hayama, Kanagawa]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=日本テレビ |title=東京湾で目撃相次ぐクジラ カメラが捉えた｜日テレNEWS NNN |url=https://news.ntv.co.jp/category/society/359324 |access-date=2024-11-22 |website=日テレNEWS NNN |language=ja-JP}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v7b02cCsP0 |title=ゴムボート東京湾ホエールウォッチング❗ |date=2017-03-26 |last=鎌倉ゴムボートコング山田肇 |access-date=2024-11-22 |via=YouTube}}</ref> It is unclear the exact number of whales included in these sightings; two whales reported by fishermen and Japanese coastal guard reported three whales on 20th or 21st.<ref>[[:ja:みんなのニュース|みんなのニュース]]. 2017. [http://www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00356017.html 撮影成功! 姿現した「東京湾クジラ」] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170422211841/http://www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00356017.html |date=2017-04-22 }}. The [[Fuji News Network]] Retrieved on April 22, 2017</ref>