Hannaleena Väisänen is a trained animal biologist and works for the tourism company Arctic Whale Tours. Originally she comes from Finland, but in 2018 she ended up in Norway because of work. Earlier this week, both she and the lucky tourists got to experience something very rare. – At first I thought it was a whale, but I didn’t see any signs of breathing. Then I thought it must be a brugde, says Väisänen. But it was neither whale nor shark: it was the world’s largest turtle – a leatherback turtle. According to Dag Dolmen at NTNU, it is not seen in Norway more often than once a decade. The leatherback turtle is an endangered species. It migrates far over the course of a year and can swim very fast. Photo: Hannaleena Väisänen / Arctic Whale Tours Remember good old Oddrunn After a long day at sea, Väisänen posted a number of photos of the turtle on the company’s Facebook page. Vesterålen Online has also discussed the case. According to Dag Dolmen, leatherback turtles can become huge. – Up to 750 kilos. Possibly up to a ton. Then it competes with the largest crocodiles to be the world’s largest reptile, says the NTNU researcher. Dag Dolmen at NTNU got to see a live leatherback turtle for himself in 1992. Photo: Private Very few are lucky enough to see the huge turtle. – It is observed in Norway approximately every ten years, says Dolmen. Nevertheless, a leatherback turtle was observed at Stad by a research team last year. But in Nordland it is a very rare sight. In 1992, a turtle of the same species was taken ashore at Træna in Nordland. It was called Oddrunn after the then Fisheries Minister Oddrunn Kristine Helene Pettersen. Oddrunn Kristine Helene Pettersen was Europe’s first female fisheries minister from 1990 to 1992. Photo: Bjørn Sigurdsøn / NTB Dolmen then visited Træna to see Oddrunn before she was returned to the sea. He remembers the incident well. – It was almost a sensation, and a bit of a treat. It was kept alive on Træna before being put back into the sea. He recalls that a transmitter designed for walruses was placed at Oddrunn, but that the signal quickly disappeared. – We did not get many minutes of data. Oddrunn probably dived so deep that the transmitter was destroyed. Here you can see a feature news made about Oddrunn in 1992: The turtle Oddrunn became national news in the 1990s. Shouted a few words in Finnish When animal biologist Hannaleena Väisänen understood what she had witnessed, it became almost difficult to do her job as a guide. – I think I howled a few words in Finnish first, and my brain probably stopped working for a little while, she says to news and laughs. – Of all the things I thought it could be, turtle was not on the list. At first Väisänen thought it might be a pilot whale, something they usually see a lot of when they travel out to sea. Photo: Hannaleena Väisänen / Arctic Whale Tours She goes on to say that the turtle was completely calm and about a meter long. In total, they observed the turtle from a safe distance for about fifteen minutes. Despite the fact that it is very rarely observed in Norway, there are probably a few individuals who swim past each year, explains Dolmen. – They swim very fast, probably almost as fast as Usain Bolt runs. A lot of muscle mass therefore means that they can maintain a much higher temperature than the cold water in the north. Killer whales are a relatively common sight in the waters where the turtle was observed. Photo: Hannaleena Väisänen / Arctic Whale Tours The menu mainly features jellyfish. Väisänen also observed a lot of that in advance of the observation. – We saw a lot of jellyfish. I pointed it out to the tourists just before we saw the turtle. That might be why we got to see it. In advance, however, she had noticed another ocean phenomenon. However, whether Arctic Whale Tours will now have to change its name to Arctic Turtle Tours is doubtful. – I think we should probably still focus on whales, says Väisänen and laughs. Whether this leatherback turtle will be named after the current Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Bjørnar Skjæran, remains to be seen.
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Leatherback turtle observed and photographed outside Stø in Vesterålen – news Nordland
