“An ever increasing number of foreign tourists go whale watching in Iceland every summer, and it is ideal to add to their fascination with information on the animals’ singing talent. With increased knowledge on the sounds of whales, and in turn their behaviour, I hope that our community will be more aware of how incredibly interesting and amazing the whales are and realise that their value is not only in the form of whale meat,” says Edda Elísabet Magnúsdóttir, Doctoral Student in Biology, on her research; research that this summer will produce a product for sale to tourists.
Magnúsdóttir has researched the sounds of Whales in Skjálfandaflói since 2008 with customised underwater recording equipment. Originally she planned to research the presence and composition of whale species by the North East Coast with recordings. “However, I soon found out that there was a variety of different sounds in the recordings and therein lay a great opportunity. I therefore began to research the variable behaviour in making sound and the whales’ pattern in articulation,” says Magnúsdóttir and adds that the sound research fills many of the blanks that still exist within cetology and marine biology.
Magnúsdótir has yet to process a considerable part of the data, however, among the species she has heard are white beaked dolphin, sperm whale, razorceback, and also the largest animal in the world, the blue whale. The humpback can be found by Skjálfandaflói all year round and its singing behaviour varies greatly between seasons. “Diverse sounds can be heard from the humpback in spring until autumn, sounds that can be connected to their acquisition of food and social behaviour. When the end of the year draws near the sounds change into an organised tone combination that can be characterised as tunes or songs; they increase and become more sophisticated in February and March. These winter songs sound like mating songs,” explains Magnúsdóttir who plans on researching this song loving whale even further.
The first product goes on the market this summer
Magnúsdóttir has made use of her research and experience in the Whale Watching sector to develop a project called “The music of the ocean” which received an acknowledgement when it was awarded the University of Iceland’s Applied Science Prize last year. The project involves utilising whale sounds in music and creating accessible multi-media educational material on the sounds’ characteristics and meaning. This will consequently be sold to tourists during Whale Watching in Iceland. Magnúsdóttir has collaborated on this project with Norðursigling in Húsavík among others. “Icelandic musicians have furthermore shown great interest in the sound and we have began collaborating with a few from the profession,” says Magnúsdóttir.
The product development is in its final stages. “We endeavour to put the product, an entertaining educational package on whale sounds, on the market by summer, before the tourism in whale watching peaks. Funding is essential to reach our goal, and we are now working on providing funds with optimism and enormous determination,” says Magnúsdóttir.
Supervisors: Jörundur Svavarsson, Professor at the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences and Marianne Helene Rasmussen, Head of the University Centre in Húsavík.
