Reykjavík Grapevine - sep. 2019, Blaðsíða 13

A biologist at the Marine Research Insti-
tute (MRI) created a stir this week after
declaring that whale watching boats
could be to blame for the recent pilot
whale strandings along the Snæfellsnes
and Reykjanes peninsulas.
On August 6th, Sverrir Daníel Hall-
dórsson suggested to state broadcaster
RÚV that noise from whale watching
ships could cause the whales to become
confused and move toward shore.
“I heard of a group [of whales] in
Faxaflói Bay, which was probably this
group [that eventually stranded], and
there were six whale watching boats
around them,” he said. “Therefore, I
think it’s not unlikely that it may have
distracted them. That is, noise from the
boats.”
The Board of Whale Watching in
Iceland promptly requested that Sverrir
retract his statement, saying that, while
their ships were watching the pelagic
whales, they were nowhere near them,
and that it is more likely that private
boats are to blame.
“In recent years, whale watching
companies, the University of Iceland,
and foreign parties have been research-
ing the possible effects of whale watch-
ing on animal behaviour, such as food
production, and have
shown that the effects
are small or nonexist-
ent in the long run,”
read a statement
from the Board. It
further asserted that
it was irresponsible
of MRI to make such
a public statement
without scientific
data or research to back it up.
The voice of reason
“It’s highly unlikely that the whale
watching boats are causing this,” Edda
Elísabet Magnússdóttir, PhD marine
biologist at the University of Iceland,
said of the quarrel. “If it would have been
the boats disturbing the whales, it would
have led to stranding very quickly.” She
went on to say that Sverrir was referring
to a whale watching tour that happened
around the 16th of July, while the first
stranding occurred two weeks later.
In the midst of the drama, the two
parties came together for a meeting
on the afternoon of August 7th, which
proved to be a harbinger of peace. Gísli
Víkingsson, head of whale research at
MRI, defended his employee, saying that
the comments were taken out of context.
“[Sverrir] did not state that this inci-
dent was a likely reason for the strand-
ing event last weekend,” he explained.
“Although, he said that such behaviour
of whale watching operators could nega-
tively affect the behaviour of whales.”
Gísli also iterated that the way this
situation has been handled in the media
has caused people to draw a direct
connection between the two incidents,
which was not the intention of MRI.
Moving forward
“I think we all agree that while there is
no way to determine the cause of this
particular event, and
that there is a need
for more research on
interactions between
cetaceans and the
w h a l e w a t c h i n g
industry, as well as
other vessel traffic,
and also more gener-
ally on the causes of
mass strandings of
cetaceans,” Gísli said, insisting Sverrir’s
original comments were in the spirit of
whale conservation.
Ensuring the welfare of whales is
certainly something we can all agree on.
Words:
Sam O’Donnell
Photo:
Art Bicnick
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13 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 14— 2019
“It’s highly
unlikely that the
whale watching
boats are causing
strandings.”
A Whale Of A Conflict
Are whale watching ships responsible for the recent strandings?