Dear MARMAM community, The North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission is pleased to announce the early online publication of the third article of Volume 11 in our Scientific Publication Series, “Estimates of the abundance of cetaceans in the central North Atlantic based on the NASS Icelandic and Faroese shipboard surveys conducted in 2015” by Daniel G. Pike, Thorvaldur Gunnlaugsson, Bjarni Mikkelsen, Sverrir D. Halldórsson and Gísli Víkingsson. Abstract: The North Atlantic Sightings Survey (NASS), the sixth in a series of surveys conducted between 1987 and 2015, was conducted in June/July 2015 and covered a large area of the northern North Atlantic. The Icelandic and Faroese ship survey component of the NASS covered the area between the Faroe Islands and East Greenland from latitude 52° to 72° N. The survey used 3 vessels and an independent double-platform configuration with each platform staffed by a minimum of 2 observers. Here we present both uncorrected abundance estimates derived using Multiple Covariates Distance Sampling, and corrected abundance estimates derived using Mark-Recapture Distance Sampling, for the following species: fin (Balaenoptera physalus), common minke (B. acutorstrata), humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae), blue (B. musculus), sei (B. borealis), sperm (Physeter macrocephalus), long-finned pilot (Globicephala melas) and northern bottlenose (Hyperoodon ampullatus) whales as well as white-beaked (Lagenorhynchus albirostris) and white-sided (L. acutus) dolphins. We then compare these estimates to those from previous NASS and put them into context with estimates from adjoining areas of the North Atlantic. The article is open access and available here: https://doi.org/10.7557/3.4941<https://doi.org/10.7557/3.4941?fbclid=IwAR3qDRk1M5lQkyF0xFii2ZxXrZrqwgSjlg2M1yiK16YEXnK7_NGwzpHCtAg> Volume 11 - Sightings Surveys in the North Atlantic: 30 years of counting whales will consist of a series of articles dealing with the results of NASS, a series of internationally coordinated cetacean surveys that were conducted in the North Atlantic in 1987, 1989, 1995, 2001, 2007 and 2015. It will also include articles dealing with other surveys done in the North Atlantic in the period 1987-2016. Best, Solveig Enoksen Editorial Assistant, NAMMCO Scientific Publications Series Scientific & Communication Assistant NAMMCO - North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission POB 6453, N-9294 Tromsø, Norway +47 77 68 73 71, solveig.enoksen@nammco.no<mailto:solveig.enoksen@nammco.no>, http://www.nammco.org/, http://www.facebook.com/nammco.org/ https://twitter.com/NAMMCO_sec [NammRGB email]
