Project Update: January 2007

Total allowable catches of marine mammals in 2007 were recently approved by Russian government. Unfortunately, 8orcas will be allowed to catch in2007: two per each of Northern Okhotsk sub-zone, Western Kamchatskaya sub-zone,KamchatkaKuril sub-zone and Eastern Sakhalinskaya sub-zone. No capture permissions were approved in 2007 for Petropavlovsk Komandorskaya sub-zone, where our previous project took place.

Our research showed that the number of orcas in this region is much fewer than estimated before. We have no data yet about numbers and population structure of orcas in Northern Okhotsk sub-zone, Western Kamchatskaya sub-zone, Kamchatka-Kuril sub-zone and Eastern Sakhalinskaya sub-zone. Our current project is dedicated to status of orcas in these regions, in order to prevent orca capturing there.