Abundance Estimates

Cetaceans

For an overview of all surveys of all cetacean species of relevance to NAMMCO, click to download a spreadsheet of all abundance estimates. 

Note that some of these estimates have been revised and republished with updated calculations. The original results are kept for reference purposes, while the revised numbers are considered the best available estimates.

Click to download a spreadsheet that includes only the best abundance estimates of cetacean species.

Pinnipeds

For an overview of all surveys of all seal and walrus species of relevance to NAMMCO, click here to download a spreadsheet of all abundance estimates.

Surveys

To effectively manage the impacts humans have on marine mammals, we need to know how many animals are in the management area (abundance), and how this number varies over time (trends), i.e. is the population going up, down, stable? One way to obtain this information is through sightings surveys, which estimate whale or seal abundance in specific areas. Different methodologies allow carrying out surveys for seals and whales from planes, boats or land.

The video below is an animation created by the Greenland Institute for Natural Resources to illustrate the method the scientists use to estimate the population size of cetaceans off Greenland.