To find out if whale-watching vessels cause stress in whales, scientists are gathering data from their breath.
Scientists are gathering data from the whales' breath just off Iceland's northern coast to determine if they become stressed by whale-watching vessels, which has been a boom industry in recent years.
Whale Wise is a marine conservation charity that studies the stress levels of whale hormones.
A drone takes off from their small sailboat. Six hours later, scientists finally found a humpback whale.
Two transparent cylindrical containers, called petri dishes, are attached to the flying device. These will collect droplets of water from the whale's spray.
The sample can be collected in a short timeframe, the same as a whale's breathing.
The drone flew carefully over the whale, crossing the spray from its blowhole, and the mission was accomplished. It returns to its sailboat and delivers its valuable cargo to researchers.
After being wrapped in paraffin and frozen the samples are sent to a laboratory for analysis.
Researchers will collect samples just before the whale-watching boat arrives, and then compare them to see the impact on stress levels.
Tourists are increasingly flocking to Iceland's waters to see these majestic creatures. However, 2020 was quiet due to the pandemic.
Researchers hope to measure the impact of whale watching.
In 2019, more than 360,000 whale-watchers were registered, a number that is three times higher than ten years ago.
Nearly a third of them started their whale-watching tour at Husavik harbour before heading to Skjalfandi Bay.
Feeding disruptions
Studies that looked at the behavior of whales and tourism have shown that there were only minor impacts on these mammals.
A 2011 study found that whale-watching excursions had been disrupting minke whales at Faxa Bay, near Reykjavik in the southern part of Iceland.
Marianne Rasmussen (director of University of Iceland Research Center, Husavik) said that although minke whales were found to be disturbed in their feeding habits, it was not a long-term problem.
"It didn’t affect their overall health."
Whale Wise used a method that has been used before by biologists, but it was new to Icelanders.
"From the samples you can look for hormones like cortisol which is a stress-relatedhormone and then you can determine their physiological stress levels," stated Tom Grove, Whale Wise founder and Ph.D student at the University of Edinburgh.
An average 33-tonne of carbon dioxide is captured by a large whale.
Since 2018, 59 samples were collected. He hopes to collect at least 100 samples for proper analysis.
Some of the samples were taken with Unu Mondo Expedition from France, who travelled to Iceland this summer to study climate change issues.
Sophie Simonin (29), co-founder of the organization, stated that the whales are very important to her and for her life.
She added that "they also absorb enormous quantities of carbon dioxide."
The International Monetary Fund's December 2019 study found that large whales capture an average 33 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Whales are a popular tourist attraction. However, they are also hunted and killed in Iceland.
In 1986, the International Whaling Commission prohibited commercial whaling. However, Iceland opposed the moratorium and resumed commercial whaling in 2003.
Only Iceland bans hunting blue whales.
The country has a quota of 209 fin and 217 minke whales per year until 2023. However, whalers claim that no whales were harvested this year.
Find out more about Minke whale hunting in Iceland
2021 AFP
