Oshoro Maru, a training ship affiliated with School of Fisheries Sciences of our university, will sail to the Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea, a marginal sea in the Arctic Ocean, from June 8 to August 3, 2023. This will be the first foreign voyage in five years since 2018.

On board this cruise will be students from our university's School of Fisheries Sciences who will be participating in the practical course "Offshore Training II," as well as graduate students whose purpose is to conduct observations and collect data related to their master's and doctoral theses. Graduate students will be participating from both Japan and overseas, including the University of Alaska's Graduate Graduate School of Fisheries Sciences and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, with which we have an inter-university exchange agreement.
In addition, in the second half of this cruise (Leg 3 on the left in the figure below), based on the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Arctic Region Research Acceleration Project (ArCS II) Priority Issue ①: Human resource development and strengthening of research capabilities, we will conduct open practical training for undergraduate students from all over the country for the first time. We will implement it. Ten trainees from national and private universities, including liberal arts faculty, will be on board for the open training, and they will not only conduct natural science ocean observations, but also learn about the history and culture of the Arctic. After boarding the ship, you will not only aim to become an Arctic researcher, but also work directly and indirectly to solve problems in the Arctic and spread knowledge about it through various social activities such as business, government, education, and NPOs. I hope that you will get involved. In addition to students, researchers from both inside and outside the university participating in ArCS II will also participate in conducting surveys and research activities.

For more information, please click here. *Go to Hokkaido University’s website.