The lockdown has made the oceans calmer: the whales are less stressed, without hunters, noises and tourists

Thanks to the measures introduced with the pandemic and the suspension of hunting, whales in Iceland are less stressed and will be able to reproduce more easily

Thanks to the anti-Covid measures, whales are less threatened and subjected to less stress in various parts of the world, particularly in Iceland. Unfortunately, hunting for these extraordinary creatures is still allowed in this country, but last year the pandemic blocked the traditional practice that annually causes the death of hundreds of specimens.

For humpback whales and fin whales living in Icelandic waters, the spread of Covid-19 represented a kind of respite. Thanks to the lockdown and the various bans introduced, not only human interference has decreased, but also thenoise pollution mainly caused by cruise ships, construction and sonar.

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Posted by North Sailing on Monday, March 15, 2021

The heavy effects of stress on whales

"I think overall, the pandemic has been largely positive for whales," said Ari Friedlaender, marine ecologist and biologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Friedlaender is studying whale stress levels, which have decreased since the oceans are less busy. For whales, noises can be one of the biggest sources of stress, as they use their song to communicate with each other and locate food.

As Friedlaender also reiterated, stress affects whales with an impact very similar to that studied on humans and has a number of effects on their behavior, their health and even their ability to reproduce.

"The animal may not reproduce as frequently as it would otherwise" - underlines the expert -. "If it fails to reproduce, the population does not have the opportunity to grow that rapidly."

Read also: The song of one of the rarest whales on the planet has been recorded for the first time

Whaling is still allowed in Iceland, but the practice is less and less popular

Iceland is one of the three countries in the world, along with Norway and Japan, where whaling is still allowed. But, thanks to health restrictions, the bloody practice was suspended last year.

"I will no longer go whale hunting, I will stop forever," said in 2020 Gunnar Bergmann Jonsson, managing director of the IP-Utgerd company, which specializes in minke whale hunting. And many are following his example.

“There is no longer a need to hunt whales. There is no need to eat them ”explains Eva Björk Káradóttir, director of the Húsavík Whale Museum. “The younger generations born after 2000 no longer do it”.

Until a few years ago, whale meat was in great demand and appreciated by both Icelanders and tourists, but lately there has been a reversal of the trend. According to Heimir Hardason, captain of North Sailing, people have stopped consuming whale meat for various reasons, mainly ethical but not only. Icelanders have realized that these cetaceans are worth much more alive than dead, thanks to the business of whalewatching, which every year attracts thousands of tourists curious to see whales up close. As Hardason points out, "it is probably the most popular activity for visitors, both foreign and domestic."

And the unique experience of whale whatching, which consists in observing cetaceans in their natural habitat, could encourage more and more people to protect whales and respect the biodiversity of the oceans.

Source: Nbc News