• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.475-482
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• 2019

Over 3,200 large baleen whales including 3,173 fin whales, 7 blue whales and 28 humpback whales were hunted by Japanese whaling companies in the Yellow Sea during Japanese colonial period (1916~1944). As a result, these large baleen whales are under the endangered state in the Yellow Sea. The Yellow Sea had good living conditions for large baleen whales in the water temperature ($4{\sim}26^{\circ}C$) and food supply. The whaling on the large baleen whales was carried out mainly from early winter to late spring. The possibility of large scale whaling was caused by the migration of these baleen whales from other areas for the feeding on abundances of Euphausia pacifica in the surface layer during these seasons. During summer and autumn season, the baleen whales moved to other areas (good feeding ground as Woolsan offshore waters), because Euphausia pacifica stayed below the strong themocline which was formed from June to October in the Yellow Sea.

• 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.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.35-41
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• 2015

Whales are marine mammals that are fully adapted to aquatic environment. Whales breathe by lungs so they require adaptive system to low oxygen concentration (hypoxia) while deep and prolonged diving. However, the study for the molecular mechanism underlying cetacean adaptation to hypoxia has been limited. Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) is the central transcription factor that regulates hypoxia-related gene expression. Here we identified HIF-binding sites in whale genome by phylogenetic footprinting and analyzed HIF-target genes to understand how whales cope with hypoxia. By comparison with the HIF-target genes of terrestrial mammals, it was suggested that whales may retain unique adaptation mechanisms to hypoxia.

• 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.

• 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.

• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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• 2017.04a
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• pp.84-84
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• 2017

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.799-805
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• 2017

The whistle sounds of three Beluga whales Delphinapterus leucas were recorded four times, for an hour each time, in 2016 and analyzed to obtain the most stable and basic acoustic characteristics of the whales in captivity. This study investigated the whistle characteristics of beluga whales and the relationship between whistle sounds and behavior to understand the meaning of the whistle sounds. The whistles were classified into six types (flat, ascending, descending, hump, dip, and wavy type) by their frequency contour and shape. The most common type was the ascending type, accounting for>30% of total whistles. The fundamental frequency of whistles was 2.0-8.6 kHz. Four types of behavior were related with the sounds of beluga whales (aggressive, submissive, affiliative, sexual behavior). A flat whistle was the most recorded in the group and an aggressive act was observed in association with the flat whistle. A dip whistle were recorded more when submissive acts were observed.

• 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.

• 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.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.51-66
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• 2018

During the Joseon period, the East Sea would be called 'Gyeonghae' due to a large number of whales. In the Republic of Korea, whaling was locally permitted in 1946. However, the number drastically dropped because the hunting of the marine mammal had already been carried out in Russia, the U.S. and Japan since 1800s. Before a moratorium on commercial whaling was introduced by the International Whaling Commission(IWC) in 1986, whale populations in the East Sea had plunged. Furthermore, Korean gray whales and fin whales weren't found anymore in that area. With the suspension, whale hunting was banned in Korea as well. Even so, accidentally caught whales have been allowed to be distributed on the market with respect for local food culture. With the establishment of Whale Museum and hosting of the 57th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission(IWC) at Jangsaengpo in 2005, whale tourism was facilitated in earnest. This whale tourism has been operated by Nam-gu Office and Nam-gu City Management Corporation in Ulsan. However, the popularity of whale tourism has increased a demand for whale meat. At the same time, there has been concern over decrease in whale populations because of illegal whaling. In addition, a conflict between the use and protection of whales has caused confusion in tourism identity. Actually, there is a serious doubt on the sustainability of whale tourism due to the decade-long deficit and excessive investments. This study attempts to define a concept of whale tourism and propose a future direction for the sustainable growth and development of Korea's whale tourism industry after developing such comprehensive assessment indicators as a basic research for the introduction of sustainable whale tourism. To achieve the aim of this study, AHP(Analytic Hierarchy Process) was chosen as a main research tool and the factors were ranked by a comprehensive analysis of principal factors and detail factors. The current study showed the following results. First, ecological environment(0.430) was indicated the most important factor of whale tourism assessment indicators. Moreover, Population(0.1302), Action for Cetacean protection(0.1031), Governance(0.0898) were critical factors. On the other hand, Accommodations(0.0085), Whale meat(0.0088) were unimportant factors than others.