Report of the Norwegian 2008 survey for minke whales in the Small Management Area ES- Svalbard

• Main Author: Nils Øien
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: MONITORING; SURVEY- VESSEL; ATLANTIC OCEAN; COMMON MINKE WHALE; Svalbard; Svalbard Archipelago; minke whale; Northeast Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.542.1155; http://www.iwcoffice.co.uk/_documents/sci_com/SC61docs/SC-61-RMP8.pdf

As part of a six-year program over the period 2008-2013 with the aim to get a new estimate of minke whale abundance in the Northeast Atlantic, waters within the Svalbard archipelago comprising the Small Management Area ES, was surveyed with two vessels during the summer 2008. Four blocks were surveyed but some areas were not covered due to ice conditions or time constraints. About 2,600 nautical miles of primary search effort was conducted within the surveyed blocks. The most common species sighted were minke whales, fin whales, humpback whales and white-beaked dolphins. In addition a few sightings were made of blue whales, sperm whales and Northern bottlenose whales. Opportunistic collections were also made of 33 biopsy samples from humpback and fin whales and more than 80 photo identifications of humpback whales, blue whales, minke whales and fin whales.