The whale hearing research project has been suspended after a whale lost its life in adverse weather conditions on the night of June 2-3.
Since 2021, the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) has been conducting a minke whale hearing research project every summer. In this project, they capture minke whales around the Lofoten Islands and perform hearing tests before releasing them back into the wild, AFP reported on June 7.
An adult minke whale off the coast of Australia. (Photo: Robert Harding Picture Library)
The experiments, carried out in collaboration with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory, aim to gather information to establish limits on the noise that humans are permitted to create underwater.
On the night of June 2-3, adverse weather conditions compromised the project’s testing site, causing a barrier to break. A whale became entangled and lost its life, according to FFI. This incident occurred before this year’s experiments officially began. The project is now suspended indefinitely while experts assess the situation and repair the testing site.
“Our goal is to protect minke whales and other species with baleen, while safeguarding them from harmful artificial noise. We will continue research on this issue. The health of the animals is our top priority in this experiment,” said Petter Kvadsheim, the lead researcher at FFI. Previously, the project was scheduled to continue through the summer of 2024.
Kvadsheim believes that the incident on June 2-3 was due to adverse weather and not the testing itself. He hopes the project can resume in the coming days and mentioned that only a small number of whales are needed to complete the project.
In 2021, a whale swam into the testing area but quickly escaped. In 2022, another minke whale was captured but was immediately released due to signs of stress.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) has called for U.S. and Norwegian authorities to halt the project immediately and permanently. “The research team has failed for three years to collect data, causing some whales to experience stress when confined to a large netted area, and now this has resulted in a whale losing its life,” said AWI.
In 2021, 50 international scientists wrote to the Norwegian government to protest the experiments. “We warned that these cruel and senseless experiments would kill whales, and sadly, this poor creature lost its life even before the experiments took place. No whale should have to face being caged and having electrodes implanted under their skin. These experiments should be stopped permanently,” stated Danny Groves, a spokesperson for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Organization.
