Distribution, abundance and trends in abundance of fin and humpback whales in the North Atlantic-R:12 ...

• Main Authors: Pike, D.G., Gunnlaugsson, Th., Øien, N., Desportes, G., Víkingsson, G.A., Paxton, C.G.M., Bloch., D.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: ASC 2005 - R - Theme session 2024
• Subjects: Fisheries and aquaculture; Ecosystem observation, processes and dynamics; East Greenland; Faroe Islands; Greenland; Iceland; North Atlantic; Svalbard
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.25350520.v1; https://ices-library.figshare.com/articles/conference_contribution/Distribution_abundance_and_trends_in_abundance_of_fin_and_humpback_whales_in_the_North_Atlantic-R_12/25350520/1

No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.The North Atlantic Sightings Surveys (NASS) are a series of international cetacean line transect surveys, including participation from the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway and Spain, that have been conducted in 1987, 1989, 1995 and 2001. The NASS have covered a very large area of the central and eastern North Atlantic, from East Greenland east to coastal Norway, and from Svalbard south to the Iberian peninsula. The surveys used ships and aircraft as survey platforms. Target species were minke, fin and pilot whales, but all species encountered were registered. Here we present estimates of abundance for fin and humpback whales from the Northeast and Central portions of the survey area. The estimates are negatively biased because of whales diving during the passage of the survey platform and whales being missed by observers, but these and other potential biases are likely small for these species. Fin whales occurred in highest densities in Denmark ...