On behalf of my co-authors I am pleased to announce the early view version of the online paper to be published in the next issue of Marine Mammal Science: Estimation of Minke Whale Abundance from an Acoustic Line-Transect Survey of the Northern Mariana Islands Authors: Thomas F. Norris, Kerry J. Dunleavy, Tina M. Yack & Elizabeth L. Ferguson Link to online article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.12397/abstract <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.12397/abstract> DOI: 10.1111/mms.12397 Article ID: MMS12397 Abstract: The minke whale is one of the most abundant species of baleen whales worldwide, yet is rarely sighted in subtropical waters. In the North Pacific, they produce a distinctive sound known as the ³boing,² which can be used to acoustically localize individuals. A vessel-based survey using both visual and passive acoustic monitoring was conducted during the spring of 2007 in a large (616,000 km2) study area encompassing the Mariana Islands. We applied line transect methods to data collected from a towed hydrophone array to estimate the abundance of calling minke whales in our study area. No minke whales were sighted, but there were hundreds of acoustic detections of boings. Computer algorithms were developed to localize calling minke whales from acoustic recordings, resulting in over 30 independent localizations, a six-fold increase over those estimated during the survey. The two best estimates of abundance of calling minke whales were determined to be 80 and 91 animals (0.13 and 0.15 animals per 1,000 km2, respectively; CV = 34%). These are the first density and abundance estimates for calling minke whales using towed hydrophone array surveys, and the first estimates for this species in the Mariana Islands region. These are considered minimum estimates of the true number of minke whales in the study area. Sincerely, -Tom Norris Chief Scientist Bio€Waves Inc. Bio-Waves Inc. 1106 2nd St. #119 Encinitas, CA 92024 Tel: 760-230-1604 Cell: 858-361-5656 Fax: 619-436-4743 thomas.f.norris@bio-waves.net <mailto:thomas.f.norris@cox.net> http://www.bio-waves.net <http://www.bio-waves.net/>