  Short gamma-ray bursts are believed to originate from the merger of two
compact objects. If this scenario is correct, these bursts will be accompanied
by the emission of strong gravitational waves, detectable by current or planned
GW detectors, such as LIGO and Virgo. No detection of a gravitational wave has
been made up to date. In this paper I will use a set of observed redshift
measurements of short gamma-ray bursts to fit a model in order to determine the
rate of such merger events in the nearby universe. Various corrections will be
included in that calculation, as the field-of-view of the satellite missions,
the beaming factors of gamma-ray bursts and other parameters. The computed rate
estimations will be compared to other rate estimations, based on observations
on binary neutron stars and population synthesis models. Given the upper limit
established by LIGO/Virgo measurements, it is possible to draw conclusions on
the beaming angle of gamma-ray bursts.
