February 29, 2008
The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
The Research Vessel NATSUSHIMA, operated by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC; Mr. Yasuhiro Kato, President), halted the search operation at 10:50 on February 29, 2008 because of the rough state of sea and the NATSUSHIMA had to move away from the bad weather. Research will be resumed when the weather serves.