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Many species of whales are spotted in the waters around Iceland. The cool, clear North Atlantic encircling Iceland is rich with food for whales of various sizes and species. Most common are Minke Whales and White Beaconed Dolphins but Killer Whales are also frequently seen and if you are lucky you can see the huge Humpback whales, waving their flukes and sometimes leaping, a memory that it will leave you breathless. Sperm Whales are rarely spotted and Pilot Whales only at times.
Porpoises frequently leap near the whale watching boats and follow them playfully around. The most famous Killer Whale of all times is Keiko, perhaps better known as Willy, was born and caught in Icelandic waters.
Thousands of tourists have enjoyed whale watching from various sites around the Iceland. In the north of Iceland, the main whale watching port is Husavik, in the Midwest are Olafsvik on the Snaefellsnes peninsula and Hofn in the southeast of Iceland. The ports on the Reykjanes Peninsula are KeflavIk , Sandgerdi and Grindavik which are only a 40-45 minutes drive from the capital Reykjavik and only 5 minutes from Keflavik International Airport. Whale watching is also available from the capital area, both from Reykjavik and Hafnarfjordur harbour. Whale watching is probably the single most popular activity for tourists in Iceland during the summer time and is growing although it is still far from being too commercial. The spotting locations are not swarming with other crafts full of tourists. Small groups are taken out. There are usually no other vessels except those of the local fishermen and apart from sighting the majestic whales the tour operators usually try to show their guests a variety of sea birds, such as the Puffin and sometimes you can see some seals.
Whales are one of the most amazing mammals in the world. They can boast of being the biggest animal ever, the mammal with the longest migration, the deepest-diving mammal and one that is capable of emitting the loudest noise in nature. In the world there are about 90 different kinds of cetaceans, or whales , dolphins and porpoises, that have been recognised and registered as a special breed. In the last 10 years, there have been about 10 new kinds of cetaceans discovered but in the waters around Iceland it is possible to find over 20 different cetaceans. The Icelandic waters covers areas of the cold arctic sea in the north, to the warmer sea, south of the country , and a various currents are constantly bringing food and creating conditions for good food areas where the currents meets, and the long sun period during the summer does provide good skills for the plantens and the krills, the basic food of the oceans.
Whales are mentioned in some of Iceland´s oldest documents and throught the history of Iceland beached whales were considered a great perquisite, especially when times were hard. At the time of Iceland´s settlement, there were probably more whale species in the ocean around the country than today. Two whale species are known to have been hunted almost to extinction in the North Atlantic, the Greenland Right Whale, and the North Atlantic Right Whale. Even the earth’s largest mammal, the Blue Whale, was endangered. The Norwegians planted their whaling stations in the Northwest and East of Iceland in the 19th century and continued their whaling activities into the 20th, until they were not profitable any more. The whales remained protected by law until the Icelanders commenced the whaling in 1948. External threats and pressure from whale preservationist organizations brought them to an end in the late 1980´s. There has been no commercial whaling in Icelandic waters since 1989 but prior to that whaling had been conducted intermittently from shore-based stations for over a century. From 1948 the whaling operations were limited to one station in Hvalfjordur except for minke whaling. During the period 1948-1985 the average catch was 234 fin whales, 68 sei whales and in the period 1948-1982 also 82 sperm whales. In 1986, the International Whaling Commission's resolution on temporary halt in commercial whaling came into effect. Whaling for scientific purposes under a special permit in accordance with the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling took place in 1986-89 and in those years a limited number of fin and sei whales were harvested. The Icelanders withdrew from the International Whaling Commission in 1992 (re-entered in 2002), and pressure has been put on the Icelandic governments to permit the recommencing of whaling around the country ever since. In August 2003 the Minister of Fisheries permitted the hunting of 38 minke whales around the country on scientific grounds. Commercial whaling has not been on the Icelandic governments agenda during recent years. More and more people in the tourist trade are arguing that whaling should not start anew as the state will definitely get more income by endorsing whale spotting as a tourist attraction. But as so often before, there are more views than one and while conservationists and people in the tourist trade are all for non-whaling, commentators for the local fishing fleet maintain rightly that whales have increased greatly in numbers during the last few years and that a natural environmental balance must not be put to a risk. They support the idea of recommencing whaling for domestic commercial purposes. |
