Common minke whale a coastal component using three to four small-type sampling vessels – mainly "Taisho Maru No. 28" (47.31 gross tons, 2002–2012), "Sumitomo Maru No. 31" (32 gross tons, 2002–2010), "Katsu Maru No. 7" (32 gross tons, 2002–2012), and "Koei Maru No. 75" (46 gross tons, 2003–2010) – with a total of up to 120 individuals being caught off Sanriku in the spring and off Kushiro, on the Pacific side of Hokkaido, in the fall. This research program continues to the present. Whaling for minke whales off Korea began in the early 1930s, when they were opportunistically caught by vessels targeting larger
Antarctic minke whale dark gray dorsally and clean white (occasionally light gray to gray) ventrally with a thin, dusky margin. Some small, dark gray "speckling" may be present on the body. Antarctic minkes lack the bright white, transverse "flipper band" of the common minke and the white "shoulder blaze" and bright white "flipper patch" (occupying the proximal two-thirds of the flipper) of the dwarf minke. Instead, their narrow, pointed flippers, about one-sixth to one-eighth of the total body length, are normally either a plain light gray with an almost white leading edge and a darker gray trailing edge or two-toned, with a thin