Analysis of the Southern Hemisphere minke whale mark-recovery data

Analyses of Balaenoptera acutorostrata stocks are carried out under a number of mark-recapture models, and estimates of abundance and of survival rates are obtained. The major potential sources of bias in the estimates lead to overestimation of abundance and underestimation of survival rate, and approximate corrections are provided so that estimates can be adjusted. Methods used by previous authors to analyse the data and to assess the above effects are reviewed. Recovery data are found to be too few to yield meaningful estimates of abundance for stock Areas I, II and VI, but estimates are given for the other 3 Areas. All but one of the bias-adjusted mark-recapture estimates of total size of stocks in the combined Area III+IV+V lie within the range 271 000-350 000 animals. -from Authors