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29.12.2006 start of our fieldwork in tysfjord
… yesterday we drove the boat from henningsvaer to tysfjord to  do more field work until the 25th of january. today we left the harbour at 8:30 and found whales 9:31 behind bekkenesholmen an island not far away. they were slow travelling and soon started to chase herring up to the surface. there were lots of spy hops all around our boat and we could collect nice data (sound recordings and behavioural data). after an hour the whale watching boats arrived and the whales started to travel away from the boats. this continued for another 3 hours and we stayed in one place and recorded everything. was a good day for whale chasing!
in the end we met a group resting. we know them, it was our AC-group, we saw them already on the 22.11., they moved further into the tysfjord…we hope to see them again, maybe tomorrow?

15.12.2006 ocean sounds received a donation!
SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge gave a donation of 200.000kr to ocean sounds for research! it is wonderful to know that there are local businesses that believe in our work, what a great help and motivation! THANK YOU!

whales are back but the weather is bad…
… groups of whales are travelling into the fjord every day, but we cannot get out very far because of the big waves and the short daylight. we pray for calmer winds… in any case it is very good news that the whales are back!

bad weather, no driver and no whales….
.. what is happening? last week we could not go out because of the strong winds from the south, now we lack a reliable driver.. we checked with the whale watching company and they have not seen whales during the last 3 days.
this is a difficult season for us and I really hope that things will soon calm down and the whales will return.
3 more days and the sun dissapears until the 6th of January…

26.11.2006 bad weather
we tried our best, but the waves were too high

24.11.2006 last day on langøysund
today we left from svolvaer again and drove around lille molla and found whales further in the fjord. they were travelling at medium speed out of the fjord. the whales were not very cooperative and we left to drive towards MS Langøysund that had whales outside offersøy. the wind picked up and it was rather difficult to get there in time. researchers had tagged the whales and by the time we got there the whales had already dissapeared.
we said good bye to the people on Langøysund and headed back to Svolvaer. Merete and I had to drive a small plastic boat. we got hit by a big wave and got totally soaked but survived laughingly!
….but it was good to be on my own RIB again in Svolvaer, which was taking the waves wonderfully back home to Henningsvaer!
I had a beautiful week on MS Langøysund, thank you all!

23.11.2006 orcas outside skrova
2 male orcas were right outside skrova travelling slowly close to land. the rest of the groups was travelling further out in the fjord. the direction was again out of the vestfjord. we stayed with them for a little while and because there were too many boats for sound recording, we searched for another group further in the fjord. after 1,5 hrs we gave up and returned to the group that was already outside henningsvaer. they were not cooperative anylonger and there was a second group travelling outside stammsund. but the day came to an end at 14:30, when it got too dark to take pictures we returned to henningsvaer. … but we had very nice northern lights later that night!

22.11.2006 auks on the menu!
another good day at sea, there were a lot of travelling whales in the vestfjord today. all together it may have been over 100 animals. we followed a group of around 30 animals that were slowly travelling and resting. they were curious towards the boat and we got nice pictures. I saw 2 new born calves. in the end 2 juveniles and female were eating auks! I have never seen that before…

21.11.2006 carousel feeding!
today we were extremely lucky and found a group of ca 20 animals carousel feeding outside lille molla island. the snorkellers had their life time experience and we got pictures and sound recordings. 2 hours of full action and then they left suddenly as if they were never there.

20.11.2006 orcas outside henningsvaer!
we had strong waves and going out was not that easy. I ewnt on board MS Langøsyund to do research for 5 days. when we came out of the henningsvaer harbour, I saw the first fin and there were about 7 animals travelling fastly out of the fjord. after 30 minutes we had to bring the small boats back to the harbour and left a second time, when we found a new group also travelling fastly out of the fjord, just outside henningsvaer. how lucky we were!
we follwoed that group for ca 1 hour and they came often close to the boat, on our last encounter the whales came straight towards the side of the boat and i could see 2 calves, one of them still pink, newly born! another animal had a tag on its side, maybe from the researchers deeper in the fjord? I called Tiu later. maybe the researchers have lost one animal? we stayed in henningsvaer for the night.

16.11.2006 the fjord was empty again..
… we went out for 3 hours and searched for whales between Skrova and Henningsvaer, many other whale watching boats were out searching in other areas of the Vestfjord, nobody has seen a fluke..the fjord was empty.
Yesterday the military tested their sonar in the fjord, when 3 male killer whales were observed by whale watching boats. In addition scientists put suction cups with D-tags directly on the whales. Was that all too much for the whales? We don’t know, we just hope that the whales will return after a few days.

It is remarkable to see that this season is completely different than the previous ones. The herring was late (due to warm water in the fjord?), and only a small part of the whale population followed into the fjord. And for the orcas, it was mainly male whales that came either alone or in group fo 3-5 animals. Where are the family groups? What does that mean? Are the males scouts to monitor activty in the fjord? Fishermen reproted that they have seen lots of groups further away from the Vestfjord. What made the whales stay further away? was it the increased human activity around the whales, or the larger distribution of herring?
many questions and no answers. it will be interesting to see what will happen during this season and whether this was a single occurrence or it marks a future trend.

10.11.2006 > 100 pilot whales!!
soon after we left the harbour of Henningsvaer towards Skrova, we saw the fins coming at us, first 20, then 40 and then we were surrounded by pilot whales! they came up to us, a lot of spy hopping and we could get really good pictures and sound recordings, a perfect day!

09.11.2006 ca 30 orcas in vestfjord
today we went first in the middle of the fjord and listened for whales and we heard them eating somewhere but it soon stopped. after searching for a while, we saw a group of ca 30 animals swimming from Skrova towards Moholmen, followed by 7 whale watching boats. The group soon split in 3 and they all started to rest. we stayed alone with one group of around 8 animals with 2 big males and a newborn calf. after 40 minutes they joined again with the others and started travelling into the fjord again. we left them after another 40 minutes and we got good photo-id pictures and sound recordings, but the animals did not produce any calls, often they travell in silence.

08.11.2006 no excursion
today we stay on land and work on our data.

07.11.2006 first sighting of orcas!
.. choppy waves and a long way towards Skrova were we found herring fishing boats seining for herring. that means that part of the herring moved further into the vestfjord. we received a call from a whale watching boat that they had a group of whales with them only 3 miles away. when we got there, the orcas were diving. when they came up we could see that there were 4 animals, including a big male. but these whales did not want to be with boats and dissapeared every time boats apporached them and were diving into another direction. soon we gave up and left the scene as more boats were arriving… sad day… since once again I ould see that the voluntary whale watching regulation were ignored by the whale watching boats..when whales show obvious signs of disturbance (like today) the boats should leave them alone.

06.11.2006 no orcas but seals..
.. the weather was too rough to go out on the vestfjord, so we turned and went to the outside of Lofoten. On our way we saw 20-30 sea eagles and 3 harbour seals!! One of the male seals even breached in front of the boat. On the outside we had mountains of waves and could not see any whales, so we turned back to the seals. Unfortunately it started raining and we had ten rough minutes in the end, but thanks to our very good driver Pål we made it safely back to the harbour of Henningsvaer.

05.11.2006
..today we had heavy rain showers and we decided to stay on land. The center was open all day and we actually had some interested visitors. Orca Diving came again with their visitors and listened to the orca lecture, thank you for supporting us!

04.11.2006
… today we have strong winds coming from the south west and heavy rain. there will be no trip today. we will stay inside and work on photo-id and sound analysis.

03.11.2006 no orcas
… many whale watching boats went out on the vestfjord and searched all day for whales. Fishermen reported that orcas were around the island of røst, too far for us!
at 14:40 whale watching boats found a group pilot whales north of the island of Skrova, most probably the same group that has been seen 3 times druing the last 2 weeks.
we went out at 13:30 - 15:00 and searched the vestfjord westover from Henningsvaer and found and heard nothing.

02.11.2006 field trip
..we went out from Henningsvaer at 10:30 and drove all the way to Ballstad, listened with our hydrophone for whales..nothing..only boat sounds….we slowly moved back again towards Henningsvaer, close to shore and listened again just outside Henningsvaer…..nothing…only distant boats…contact with whale watching skippers did result in the same conclusion: the vestfjord was empty today!

Herring has moved into Vestjord and the orcas are following
…over night the herring finally came into the Vestfjord, the water temperature has dropped. And with them a group of orcas followed. The were sighted by Pierre (orca diving) not far from the town of Stammsund.

First orca sighting in Vestfjord!
..yesterday there were sightings of orcas in Austnesfjord, not far from here! Our boat is not ready yet, we hope to finish it by next week. We can’t wait to get out and start the field season!!!!

Ocean Sounds is now part of the Norwegain Ecotourism Project
We are one of 8 different companies in Norway that were chosen to be test companies for the Norwegian Ecotourism Project, more information soon!

Ocean Sounds bought a boat!!!
..we picked up the boat yesterday, a 7,3m zodiac RIB, the engine and pictures come soon! The field work is safe and we just have to hope for a lot of orcas.

Sue the Mink baby!
We found a very young mink baby on the road. It was alone and did not move. We assume a bird (eagle or crow) took it away from its mother and droped it. After a few hours it started to eat and is growing now every day. We found out that it is a little girl and we named her Sue. She is a very popular crew member at the center!

We are finished and opened the center!!!
Today (30.06.2006) we open the ports of the Ocean Sounds Science Center! We are open every day from 10:00 until 20:00 during July and August. Come for a visit!

First visit at the center
On the 10th of June, a group of German and Swiss tourists stopped at the center for a short briefing and supported ocean sounds.  The first step towards a research boat is done! Thank you!

Midnight sun over Henningsvaer
27.05.2006 the midnight sun was shining into the window of the ocean sounds science center in Henningsvaer. The summer came with a fresh northern wind breeze.

Renovation of the science center
.. we have come a long way with the renovation and hope to open in 2 weeks! The walls are painted and we are waiting for more material to finish the floor before we can set up the sound system… we will keep you informed!
Ocean sounds received a package full of paint brushes

23.02.2006 Ocean sounds received a package full of paint brushes
for our renovation of the science centre
from Habico Künstlerpinsel Manufaktur Bieringer GmbH,
www.habico.de.

Vielen Dank!!!!!!

Dead harbour porpoise
22.02.2006 I found a dead Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)
in the harbour of Henningsvaer,
which was discarded from cod fishing boats.
Fishermen reported a high mortality of harbour porpoises
as by catch in this seasons’ cod fishing.
Every year seals and small whales get entangled and drown
in the cod fishery nets.

Read more about by bycatches and entanglements of marine mammals:
(http://assets.panda.org/downloads/bycatchjuly12lowres2004.pdf/)
Ocean Sounds received the WWF Arctic Tourism and Conservation Grant 2005
17.02.2006 Ocean Sounds received the WWF Arctic Tourism and Conservation Grant 2005!!!
This grant of will be used to create a science exhibition at the ocean sounds science center in Henningsvaer.

Thank you so much!!!

on January the 6th the sun came back
2006 on January the 6th
the sun came back
Happy new Year!

Rescue operation of a grown male killer whale
4.11.2005 Rescue operation of a grown male killer whale that got himself entangled in fishing gear outside Skrova/Lofoten!
A 5 hours struggle in cooperation
with Orques Sans Frontières
and the Norwegian coast guard
ended successfully!

From the 16th to the 29th of November,
ocean sounds organised a field research trip
to collect biopsy samples of killer whales
to investigate toxicology, DNA
and take sound recordings of the whales.
This was done in cooperation with Dr. Tiu Similä (www.killerwhale.no)
and the Norwegian Polar institute,
and partly sponsored by the WWF
(read article www.panda.org).