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For 20 years, one of the main tasks of the Icelandic Seal Center has been to support and promote sustainable seal watching. Many years ago, the Seal Center participated in a project called “The Wild North”. A number of parties participated in the project and one of the products was a Code of Conduct for tourists planning to go bird, fox, whale and/or seal watching.

It is important to guide tourists who are planning to enjoy Icelandic nature. What concerns the Seal Center most is guiding those who are going seal watching. This increases the chance that our guests will have a good experience and at the same time we reduce the risk of the seals being disturbed.

The latest tool in this work is a short cartoon based on the Code of Conduct for seal watching. The cartoon is without text or speech so it is easy to understand, regardless of age or language proficiency. It was made by Gagarín and supported by the Uppbyggingarsjóði Norðurlands vestra and Landsbankinn Community Fund.

Here is a link to the cartoon, please share
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhgejjkOS_w

On July 27th, the Great Seal Count took place when about 35 volunteers walked the coastline from Reykjaskóli to Sigríðarstaðavatn, a total of over 100 km. The count began with a lecture and ended with a barbecue for the volunteers. Since this was the 15th count in the Seal Center’s 20th anniversary year, it was a special occasion.

Unfortunately, the result this year was not what we had hoped for, as 445 seals were counted, compared to 550 in 2024 and 549 the year before. It should be noted, however, that in 2012, 422 seals were counted and in 2015, 446, so hopefully the count will show better numbers next year. This, however, is a reminder that we must closely monitor the development of seal populations around Iceland, especially in light of the fact that the Icelandic harbor seal is in endangered.

We would like to thank the great response to our Secret Word Game last week. A total of 54 people took part and we decided to draw 4 winners instead of 3 due to the good participation.
The following winners now have 6.000 kr. credit in the Seal Center store.

• Antonin Trávnicek
• Julie Hen
• Saga Mjöll Einarsdóttir
• Sigurður Hugi Þórarinsson

If anyone has yet to try the game and wants to give it a try, it will remain at the museum at least until next week.

According to tradition, the Great Seal Count takes place on the last Sunday in July, i.e. on July 27th. Everyone is welcome to help with the count. More information about how the count is carried out can be found here.

Please register your participation by sending an email to selasetur@selasetur.is no later than Thursday, July 24th.

There have been many whales in Miðfjörður-bay in recent weeks and it is fun to watch all the life in the sea outside the Seal Center. Last night there were a few humpback whales swimming very close to land which was amazing to watch.