A group of kayakers helped herd a pod of pilot whales out of the shallow waters of an Icelandic fjord on Aug. 12—and again on Aug. 13, as the whales inexplicably returned the next day.
The pod of about 60 pilot whales—marine mammals, which can grow to over 20 feet long and weigh as much as three tons—got trapped in a fjord called Kolgrafarfjordur when the tide went out on Aug. 12.
About two dozen boaters from a local kayak tour business called Kontiki Kayaking paddled out among the whales, and as the tide started to rise again, gently herded the whales back out to the open ocean, Icelandic Monitor reported.
It was no doubt a memorable day for the paddlers, interacting with the gentle but gigantic creatures in their own environment, and helping them get back to their natural home.
Probably none of the paddlers thought they would be replaying the scene a day later.
The Return of the Lost Whales
The same pod of whales returned to the fjord on Aug. 13, and again got trapped as the tide went out leaving the far end of the fjord cut off from the ocean.
This time Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue (ICE-SAR) came out to help the 22 paddlers, to coral the whales and guide them out of the fjord once the tide turned. Instead of just getting the whale pod out of the fjord this time the rescuers guided the whales 10 miles out into Breiðafjörður Bay.
This time, it seemed, the whales had seen their fill of Kolgrafafjörður. The pod swam off to the northwest.
No one knows why the whales kept returning to Kolgrafafjörður.
Einar Strand, regional manager of ICE-SAR (the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue) on Snæfellsnes peninsula, told Iceland Monitor that the rescue organization would have to consider different solutions if the whales returned again.
Why Do Whales Strand?
According to Whales.org, thousands of whales strand themselves every year. Pilot whales, because they are so social, are among the most frequent stranded whales. If a single member of a pod gets lost, or drifts towards shore due to illness, the entire pod will follow, leading to a mass stranding.
The Icelandic pod was extremely lucky. Most stranded whales cannot be saved. This group, had it not been rescued, would have starved to death en masse.
The science behind strandings is not complete. Individual animals may strand due to illness. Groups sometimes strand themselves because of problems with echolocation—their natural navigation systems can be confused by gentle underwater slopes.
Underwater noises can disorient whales. The sound of ships’ motors, undersea military explosives tests, and explosions used for undersea gas and oil exploration can confuse whales. Powerful military sonar can also upset whales’ navigation senses.
Darlene Ketten, a neuroethologist and expert on hearing in marine mammals at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Cape Cod, Massachusetts told Scientific American: “I often use the analogy of a car crash, because a lot of things can go wrong but you get the same result.
“Statistically, we are only able to determine the cause of a stranding in about 50 percent of all cases worldwide.
“In some cases it is obvious, like a ship strike leaving an animal in poor condition. In the northeastern United States pneumonia is a common cause of stranding.
“We see other diseases and trauma, such as shark attack on whales or dolphins or attacks by members of the same species. Poisonous “red tides” will also affect marine mammals. Some strandings have been speculated to be related to anomalies in the magnetic field.”