look for RD1301 and OMV13001
since it started we have not seen any large baleen whales this year…..on the other hand herring and mackerel moved into the Vestfjord and both pilot whales and orcas seem to be feeding of it!

more info later,

Heike

The past two weeks have been amazing in the Vestfjord. the weather was unusually warm and calm and we were able to conduct many research trips out in the fjord to looks for whales.
A large group of pilot whales has been in the fjord at least since 17.5.2013 and we had several encounters. together with researchers from SMRU, St Andrews we were studying their behaviour.
the group of pilot whales is known to us, we have seen it already in 2007 and 2009.
We also found a lone feeding humpback whale, several harbour porpoises and grey seals..
On the 29.5.2013 we also found a dead minke whale, which was killed by a Norwegian whaler. there are 19 boats out this year with a killing quota of around 1220 animals. with the good weather they are able to shoot many of that quota, also inside the Vestfjord where people go whale watching. as you can see on the picture of the dead minke, the whalers only take the “good” parts, the filets and throw away the rest of the body. this clearly shows the waste of resources, especially since this whale could be watched by people and increase the tourism industry for many years.
whaling nowadays is not necessary anymore, people are wealthy and have a high living standard. when whaling was introduced to Lofoten in the 50′ies, people here were poor and needed that extra income. time has changed, whale meat is not needed anymore, especially in Norway, which is now among the top richest countries in the world!
People should look into the future and create a sustainable world for future generations, whaling plays no part in that.

However, the grotesque picture of that dead whale became even more sureal when the pilot whales moved into the exact area and a lot of local people enjoyed the view of those whales…

from the field, Heike Vester

From the 17.5-22.5.2013 we had more than 100 long-finned pilot whales inside the Vestfjord! we could follow and study them for 2 days, otherwise the eastern winds were too strong.

here are some pictures, enjoy!

Ocean Sounds will take a creative summer break from June-October 2013 to work on a fresh new plan for 2014!

We have found new partners where we will have a new exhibition and science center, a room for lectures/slide shows and a boat harbor!
We will start with educational marine life watching tours again and can offer you accommodation and food as well.
In addition we work closely together with Zen-Loften to relax with Ocean Sounds
It will still be located in Henningsvaer, so plan your visit for next year! .. but more info will follow soon….

But if you are a group of more than 10 people and you want to listen to a presentation/slide show, we can arrange it, just send us an email or call and make an appointment! 150kr/pers.

Our research will continue as always with ever more spreading networks to Researchers from England, Iceland and Spain….

Stay tuned for news and exciting new projects!

Thanks for your support!

Heike

For now the center is open until end of June on request only and then we will move somewhere else or have it closed until we find something new for next year…

Thank you for your understanding!

Heike

Like every summer since 2005 we plan to do daily boat trips into the Vestfjord and especially Øksfjord to study orcas and long finned pilot whales.

We have already established a research project on the as behaviour, identification and underwater communication of orca groups visiting us in the summer, especially in the Øksfjord (see article). This adds to our knowledge from winter observation of orcas in northern Norway, which we have studied since 2003.

In addition we have studied long finned pilot whales in the Vestfjord since 2006 and have over 220 individuals in our Photo ID catalog, plus could identify more than 140 different call types. Long-finned pilot whales migrate every year to the Vestfjord and we investigate whether these groups are stable or fluctuate and whether their communication differs from other groups.

In 2013 we further focus on the distribution & vocal behavior of Atlantic White sided Dolphins, we have no former knowledge about those animals!

In summary, to understand these animals more research is needed, because we are only in the beginning of revealing their secrets!

In addition we monitor Distribution & Behaviour all other Marine Mammals that we find in the Vestfjord during the whole year.

In order to keep our research base in Henningsvaer going and be able to conduct our daily boat excursion, we need your help!
Since 2010 we cannot invite tourists on our boat trips anymore, because the laws for our boat has changed and we are not allowed to. this means a huge cut in our financial income, which makes donations and sponsorship ever more important.

Please take a few minutes and think about it, we hope you do care about Marine Mammals in Lofoten and would like to support our projects.

Donate now!  Our marine animals need your help!

Thank you!!!

Sincerley,

Heike Vester (lead researcher/Ocean Sounds)

All you have to do is name it with:

“Research Project Ocean Sounds”

Bank account: Organization for research of complex adaptive systems (or-cas) e.V.

Account nr: 4065921300

BLZ: 430 609 67

BIC: GENODEM1GLS

IBAN: DE97 4306 0967 4065 921300

Address: Organisation zur Erforschung komplexer adaptiver Systeme (or-cas) e.V.

c/o MPIDS

Am Faßberg 17

37077 Göttingen

and soon we will have our ORCAS website as well..

Thank you for your support! Heike

You can follow news and connect to us.

heike vester1,2,3 and kurt hammerschmidt1

1Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Go¨ttingen, Germany, 2Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and
Self-Organization, Am Fassberg 17 37077 Go¨ttingen, Germany, 3Ocean Sounds, Hjellskjaeret, 8312 Henningsvaer, Norway

Occurrence of killer whales in Norway is linked to the migration of the herring population with most sightings during wintertime.
Here we describe the first record of North Atlantic killer whales feeding on Atlantic salmon inside a fjord in northern
Norway during summertime, thus adding an important factor in understanding the feeding ecology of North Atlantic killer
whales.

Marine Biodiversity Records, page 1 of 5. # Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 2013
doi:10.1017/S1755267212001030; Vol. 6; e9; 2013 Published online

- no whale watching or other nature boat excursion

- no fixed opening hours for our center in Henningsvaer, we can only open if we are not at sea, so people have to take the chance or call us in advance if they want to visit us and watch the whale slide show, only for a minimum charge of 750kr or 5 people.

- less activity on this website, news will only be written here on the English page

- no activity in Patagonia at the moment

I hope for your understanding, as soon as the financial situation will be better there will be more activity again, so don’t give us up!

Here are some events:

- Marine Mammal Biology course at the University in Bodø with field work during the first 2 weeks in August

- Visits of international and national scientists in May – June

- Master project on Atlantic White Sided Dolphins in cooperation with the University of Nordland in Bodø

- Two publication on the acoustic behavior of killer whales and long-finned pilot whales

Whales in the north:
At the moment the herring and with them orcas, humpback and fin whales are coming further south and close to Lofoten. there has been a huge gathering of herring and humpback whales in the fjord close to Tromsø all winter, and only did the orcas come close to land as well, probably whit another patch of herring that was offshore. now the whales are spread out from Tromsø to Andenes to Stø and Lofoten. unfortunately such closeness to land brings risk of entanglements and for a few days a humpback whale has been spotted outside Andenes entangled in fishing gear. it is the same problem that we had in 2005 when a male Orca got entangled in a standing fishing net out side Skrova inside the Vestfjord. it took us 5 hours to finally be bale to cut the rope loose, so the whale could swim free again. I wish the people in Andenes and my colleagues the same luck and endurance as we had then to free the humpback whale now.

I want to thank all the people that helped Ocean Sounds in 2012 without you I would have lost the boat and my research would have stopped..

THANK YOU!!

with more news soon, Heike