36 Right Whale Abundance
Description: The data presented here are time series of the North Atlantic right whale population abundance estimates and calf abundance estimates.
Found in: State of the Ecosystem - New England (2017+), State of the Ecosystem - Mid-Atlantic (2017+), State of the Ecosystem - Indicator Catalog (2024+)
Indicator category: Synthesis of published information; Published methods
Contributor(s): Daniel Linden, Richard Pace, New England Aquarium
Data steward: Daniel Linden daniel.linden@noaa.gov
Point of contact: Daniel Linden daniel.linden@noaa.gov
Public availability statement: Source data are available from the New England Aquarium upon request. Derived data are available here.
36.1 Methods
36.1.1 Data sources
The North Atlantic right whale abundance estimates, including calf observations, are published as a technical memorandum every year (e.g., Linden 2025a) using sightings data from the New England Aquarium.
36.1.3 Data analysis
Analysis for right whale abundance estimates is based on methods by Pace et al. (2017) and Linden (2025b), as documented most recently by Linden (2025a). Data and code can be found in the following Github repository: NEFSC/PSD-NARW_popsize.
36.1.4 Data processing
Time series of right whale and calf abundance estimates were formatted for inclusion in the ecodata R package using this R code.
catalog link https://noaa-edab.github.io/catalog/narw.html