Icelandic Seal Center
On Friday 28 June at 09:00, Cécile Chauvat will be giving a presentation on her research proposal about biospheric values of tourists at seal watching spots in North-Western Iceland. Cécile’s research will assess the correlation between biospheric values of tourists and their knowledge of their impacts on the biosphere.
Naturalist, Einar Ó. Þorleifsson, has taken the reins of a new job with the Northwest Iceland Nature Centre, inconjuction with the Icelandic Seal Center. He has a degree in geography with concentrations in biology and geology. Einar has spent countless hours over many years studying birds. His specialties are wetlands ecology and wetland birds. In addition, Einar has participated in a wide body of research on the distribution of birds in Iceland, especially those that settled Iceland from the Twentieth Century until today.
Einar will be working on various natural science studies, most based in ornithology, in the wide area under the purview of the Northwest Iceland Nature Centre. His main office is provided by the Icelandic Seal Center in Hvammstangi.
Those who would like to share information about interesting birds (for instance, new nesting sites) or discoveries of plants or unusual geological phenomena are welcome to look to him for more information.
The Icelandic Seal Center has been invited to join a research network called, “Sustainable Tourism Development in the Nordic Arctic.” Dr. Jessica Aquino, Head of Tourism Research, will be ISC’s representative for the network. The aims of this network are to investigate how to utilize existing human capital, natural resources (especially living marine resources), and infrastructure capacity to develop innovative sustainable tourism that can diversify and make Arctic economic development more resilient. This is to be achieved through three interrelated workshops in the Arctic regions of the Nordic countries. The first workshop was hosted in Northern Norway in April 2018. The seconded workshop will be hosted in Northern Iceland from 18-22 March 2019. Funding for this network is provided by NordRegio, UArctic, and the International Network Program of the Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education.
In 2018 Húnaklúbburinn invited a youth group from Sweden to join us in Hvammstangi to learn about each other’s culture and our connection with nature. The project was funded by Erasmus+ and supported by Húnaþing vestra, Félagsmiðstöðin Órion, Hólar University College, and the Icelandic Seal Center. This project was marked as a “Good Practice Example.”
Projects such as Húnaklúbburinn are a great example of university-community partnerships that sees communities as intellectual spaces. Húnaklúbburinn’s collaborative efforts enable the youth, and those who are interested in strengthening youth programs, to participate effectively in their community to achieve a common good.
Húnaklúbburinn is a children’s nature club, established in 2016 for the youth of Húnaþing vestra, with the purpose of connecting youth and nature by using a combination of environmental education and nature-based recreation. It has two basic principles, that children have the right and responsibility in shaping their own futures and the futures of their communities; and that children develop a genuine appreciation of the natural environment—and a sense of their own competence—through direct interaction with nature.
Jessica Aquino manages and directs Húnaklúbburinn. She is also an Assistant professor at Hólar University College and is Head of the Tourism Research Department at the Icelandic Seal Center.
A grey seal census was conducted by The Marine and Freshwater Institute in co-operation with The Icelandic Seal Center. The results from the survey are presented in a report which can be found here.
The Icelandic grey seal population is estimated to be 6300 animals, while the population was estimated at 4200 animals the last time a census was conducted in 2012. The population was approximately 32% smaller than when the first census was conducted in 1982 when the population was roughly 9200 animals. Analysis for the period 2005–2017 revealed no statistically significant trend for the total population size since the current population size is close to the estimated population size of 2008/9 and slightly larger than the estimate of 2005.
In 2017 the population was estimated to be larger than the governmental management objective for the grey seal population of 4100 animals. According to the Icelandic red list for threatened populations, which is based on criteria put forward by IUCN, the grey seal population should at its current level be considered as “Vulnerable”. Based on the last census from 2012, the population was considered as “Endangered”.
The results show that the peak of the pupping period varied from 2 October (Frameyjar in Breiðafjörður) to 24 October (Strandir). Breiðafjörður was the most important pupping area in Iceland, with 58% of the total estimated pup production in 2017. Other important breeding sites were Strandir and Skagafjörður in NW Iceland, as well as Surtsey and Öræfi on the South Coast.
The status of the grey seal population is considerably better than that of the Icelandic harbor seal population, which has declined by 77% from 1980 when censuses commenced, and a decrease of one third was observed between the years 2011 and 2016 when a census was last conducted. The Icelandic harbor seal population is considered as “Critically endangered” according to the Icelandic red list.
