Minke whale dies in research facility, halting Norwegian-American research project in Norway

– That we have now lost a minke whale before this year’s experiment started, because the test facility was damaged by a storm, is the worst that could happen, says chief researcher Petter H. Kvadsheim at the Defense Research Institute in a press release.

For the past three summers, a Norwegian-American research project has visited Lofoten to measure what minke whales hear. During the preparations for this year’s trial, the test facility was damaged by a storm on the night of 3 June.

When the researchers were to inspect the damage, they discovered that a minke whale had gotten stuck under one of the barrier nets and drowned.

Shall set noise limits at sea

Kvadsheim says that the accident has taken a toll on the entire research team, which has made a significant effort to take care of safety and animal welfare in all parts of these tests, according to him.

The research project itself involves obtaining a hearing sensitivity curve for minke whales. Knowledge that will be used to set limits for man-made noise in the sea.

To measure the whales’ hearing, the researchers capture whales alive in a test pool. Nets have been set out in the fjord to guide whales into the test pool.

Net struggled to break free

During the storm, one of the nets was pulled out of position and out into deeper water.

– Our theory is that the whale got stuck in the lead line on the underside of the net the night it was torn loose by the storm, says Kvadsheim.

The project, which is led by the National Marine Mammal Foundation (NMMF) and FFI on behalf of the US authorities, has now been stopped until the sequence of events has been mapped and all routines have been reviewed.