Season of 2017

We are back at the fishing village of Stø and the Greenland halibut season has  started. We are on site with our dear old friend, the Sailboat Iolaire and her splendid skipper Martin.

 S/Y Iolaire, our research vessel.

Depredation events have been seen by the fishermen throughout the week and we even managed to get a video from one of the fishermen documenting these events. 

Dr. Jonathan Gordon

Our team spent a good day out at sea setting up hydrophones (courtesy of Dr. Jonathan Gordon and Vanishing Point Marine) and taking ID-photos. We saw one Spermwhale in addition to hearing many of them via the hydrophone. We are so very lucky to have Dr Jonathan Gordon, a pioneer on benign sperm whale research, as part of our team. His wealth of knowledge about these animals is indispensable.

Volunteer crewmember Lene and the Captain, Martin.

The main focus for this season will be to get a more detailed idea of the depredation behavior through a combination of acoustic and visual observations. Photoidentification of the whales interacting with the lines is also a priority. We continue to work closely together with the fishermen and the whalesafari crews.

Connections.

The conference main tent.

Hindsgavl Castle.

The conference was a success with many interesting talks. The venue was held at Hindsgavl Castle, which is more than suitable for this type of event. We witnessed many interesting talks from across the globe and connected with fellow scientists and ocean explorers. The conference was also a good opportunity to spread word of our own project. The weather continued to be nice. 

As for now, we are making the final preparations for this years fishing season as it is just behind the corner. Stay tuned.

European Cetacean Coference.

 The conference is up and running in Middelfart, Denmark.

The Arctic Swirl team is on location, here in Denmark for the Annual European Cetacean Society conference. The venue is filled with scientists from across the globe and there are lots of interesting talks here.

We are here to bring awareness to our project, find collaborators and exchange ideas with fellow ocean explorers. The weather is also nice.

Firing up the blog.

The Arctic Swirl team on the job.

Spring is well under way and it’s time to report. We have been outfitting ourselves for the next season and there seems to be a good amount of people with the willingness and skill to help out with the project. We have started preparations for the upcoming season and met up with prospective collaborators. Things are on the up!

The Big Thief

Our project description/Digital story of the depredation.

End of the second season.

The second part of the Greenland Halibut season was an intense two-week period with many whale sightings and the fishermen proved again to be a great asset in gathering data.

 Fishermen of M/S Egilson

Tiu joined the fishermen of M/S Egilson to see the depredation for herself. As fate would have it, that particular boat caught a halibut with spermwhale toothmarks on it. Our research team will now reside to analyze the data, make trials with the underwater acoustic array and plan our future moves.

Thank You all!

A spermwhale diving to have a feed off the longlines. 

Spermwhale toothrakes on a Greenland Halibut.

Second season beginning.

The second part of the Greenland Halibut season has now commenced and we are on location in Stø continuing the research. The winds are high keeping the fishing boats in harbour, which has given us time to calibrate our acoustic gear and set up the foundations.

 

 Our fisherman friend, Paavo Pirttilehto at his trade.

 

We have acquired a great help from fellow colleague and scientific mind Jonathan Gordon, whom Fred went to visit in S:t Andrews, Scotland. Jonathan supplied us with the latest technology in underwater acoustics and we are very grateful for this collaboration. Thank You Jonathan!

Dr. Jonathan Gordon assembling a hydrophone kit for us.