Author: Páll Línberg Sigurðsson

Recently we at the Seal Center got a nice visit from Sweden . Olle Karlsson from Naturhistoriska riksmuséet and Kalle Lundström frá SLU came to meet with Sandra Granquist our head of biology research department. 

The topic for their meetings was ways to increase cooperation between these three institutions as well as collaborating on future research projects. Being in contact with leading specialists in other countires is very important for the specialists at the Seal Center to get new ideas and share knowledge.  

We thank Olle and Kalle for their visit.

The seal specialits went for lunch at the recently opened restaurant on the floor above the Seal Center.
From left Olle Karlsson, Sandra Granquist og Kalle Lundström.

 

The Seal Center is open this coming easter weekend as follows:

Thursday april 2nd  12:00-15:00
Saturday april 4th 12:00-15:00
Monday april 6th 12:00-15:00

 

Head of Tourism Research at the Icelandic Seal Center, Dr. Georgette Leah Burns, visited Telemark Univeristy in Bø, Norway, last week as part of an Erasmus exchange. Whilst there, she taught classes on nature based tourism and managing visitors in protected areas. She also presented a public lecture entitled “From Dingoes to Seals: Exploring the Ethics of Managing Wildlife Tourism”.

The Routledge Handbook of Tourism and Sustainability was recently published. The book is essential reading for students, researches and academics interested in the possibilities of sustainable forms of tourism and tourism’s contribution to sustainable development.

Dr. Leah Burns Head of the Seal Centers Tourism Researh department wrote a chapter in the book titled Ethics in Tourism. 

More information on the book: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415662482/ 

 

Dr. Leah Burns

The results of the 2014 Harbour Seal count have now been released.

About the Harbour Seal Count

Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) were counted in some of the largest haul-out sites in Iceland between July and September 2014; in the West Iceland, the West fiords and the North West of Iceland. To compare different methods, the seals were counted from a Cessna aircraft and by using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Harbour seals on the shores of Vatnsnes were in addition counted once from a helicopter in co-operation with the icelandic coast guard. When comparing the counting methods, it is clear that both different methods works equally well to collect data, although flying a UAV can be considered as safer for the counting personal compared with counting from a Cessna aircraft. Further, using a UAV is more time consuming and consequentally the Cessna aircraft can cover a bigger area in a shorter time. Hence, over all, using the Cessna aircraft to count harbour seals in Icelandic condition can not be considered more expensive than by using a UAV.

Main Results

The results show that compared with counts from the same areas in 2011, the number of seals had decreased. In 2011, the icelandic harbour seal population was estimated to 11-12.000 seals in total. Despite decreasing harbour seal hunting in Iceland, the results from the present study indicate an annual decrease of around 30% during the period 2011 to 2014. It is important to underline that to find out the status of the harbour seal population as a whole, all haul-out sites should be counted and to get a significant result, each site should preferably be counted three times. This was however not possible in 2014, due to financial restrictions. Since there is an indication of a sever decrease in the harbour seal population in Iceland, it is of great importance to conduct a population count in 2015, when four years has passed since the last population estimate was carried out.

The  project was funded by the Ministry of Industries and Innovation and is a cooperation between The Institute of Freshwater Fisheries, The Icelandic Seal Center, Vör Marine Research Center and Svarm ehf.

Here you can find the full report of the project.