Be welcome to The Great Seal Count an event at the Icelandic Seal Center in Hvammstangi in July every year. This is a fun event and you need to trust yourself to walk on the beach for approx. 2-7 km.
Schedule:
Attendance at the Seal Center, delivery of documents, promotion, and training. Coffee refreshments are for participants. Then the actual seal counting takes place.
Please bring binoculars and come by car 🙂
Information for field participants
It is important to count only seals that are “inside” your area so that each seal is only counted once.
You write down all the seals you can see, whether they are on land or at sea, also write down the time!
KEEP IN MIND that not all of you will see seals but is important to us to know where the seals are and how many. So even if you do not see a seal, that´s very important information to us.
Please walk carefully and do not make noise since that may scare the seals away before you can count them! For the same reason, please do not bring a dog.
Close all gates, respect the animals in the area and do not walk over cultivated land (crops)
Here is a link to a google map of all the start and end points for each count area and information about good parking locations. https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1qv7-6u-HAhbn539CbRtx_1dF9jKp9ZI&usp=sharing
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This is a wonderful opportunity to volunteer with the Icelandic Seal Center. We are dedicated to developing sustainable wildlife tourism and research and education on the status of the seal populations of Iceland. The seal count aims to support further research by gaining knowledge of the number of seals in these areas and continuing to develop sustainable tourism in wildlife viewing.
Counting consists of counting seals in Vatnsnes and Heggstaðanes, but the area will be divided into many different areas (about 2-7 km long) and everyone should find a distance that suits them. The large seal count is a fun experience, and it is well worth coming and participating in the center’s research work.
Info Here is a link to general information about the seal count from 2007-2024 on Wikipedia. https://Selatalningin_mikla
The adventure began in 2007 with a seal count on Vatnsnes and has taken place regularly since then, most recently in the last summer of 2024. Participation gives people the opportunity to see harbor seals and occasional seals in their natural environment. One of the goals of the Icelandic Seal Center is to inform the public about seals and seal research, this is one of those events.
More information about the events and the results can be found here on Wikipedia and the map of each count area can be found here.
