NIFS announced that it is going to conduct aerial surveys on Korean sea areas in the sighting surveys of cetacean for the first time in Korea. 

The aerial survey allows researcher to conduct sighting surveys even in the sea areas hard to access by vessels because of shallow water depth or complex coastline. The method is also the least invasive-but still most effective- method to identify the traveling pattern and distribution of cetacean over the broad areas in a short time. 

After testing the possibility of sighting surveys using the Korean coast guard vessels in 2013, the Cetacean Research Institute of NIFS had checked the population and distribution of finless porpoise, mainly habitating in coastal areas of the West and South sea. 

This year will conduct expanded and precise surveys on marine mammals through aerial surveys in sea areas of the East, West, and South sea by quarter. 

In addition, a high-resolution camera is going to be attached to the aircraft to improve the accuracy of cetacean species identification and to record ecology and behaviors of cetacean.