Presentation of initial findings from surveying humpbacks to inform responsible practice

Earlier this year, two UW students, Benedek Regoczi and Laura Lyall, received a grant from Rannís, the student innovation fund, for a total of 2.040.000 ISK. Brack Hale, program director of the Coastal Marine Management master’s program applied for the grant on behalf of the University Centre of the Westfjords for the project “Monitoring whales to inform responsible shipping.” The project is in collaboration with Borea, Sjóferðir, Húsavík, Vestmannaeyjar, and Whale Wise.

In the project, it is stated that Ísafjarðardjúp is a potentially important coastal feeding ground for Icelandic humpback whales, but there is limited information about local whale occurrence. Meanwhile, human activity is locally very high, particularly vessel traffic around Ísafjörður, and is predicted to increase, with potential implications for whale behaviour and health. The project proposed a novel collaborative network to study whale occurrence and distribution to inform the responsible use of Ísafjarðardjúp. The project offered summer projects for two students, who have worked with whale-watching companies, a conservation non-profit, and academic partners to collect and analyse sightings data. Laura has assess the importance of the area for whales, while Ben has characterised local whale distribution to determine spatial overlap with human activity. The students have also worked together to craft recommendations for responsible shipping in Ísafjarðardjúp.

Ben and Laura will present some initial findings from the project on Monday September 9th at 15:00 at the University Centre of the Westfjords. The presentation is open to the public. 

Zoom link: https://eu01web.zoom.us/j/66382722257