The matter summed up: Fisherman Kristian Sandtorv has seen a large increase in marine mammals, especially killer whales, during his life as a fisherman. He believes that there are too many marine mammals and suggests culling as part of the solution. The Institute of Marine Research has found that marine mammals eat more seafood than before and in other areas. Researcher Audun Rikardsen rejects the claim that an increase in quail populations is negative for fish stocks, and says that it is, on the contrary, a positive sign. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. Kristian Sandtorv, skipper of Havdrøn and chairman of the Pelagisk foreining, has been a professional fisherman for 35 years and is well used to seeing the animals that live in the sea. During this year’s herring fishing in the north, he came across what he estimates are around 150 killer whales around the bill on Røstbanken, at the far end of the coast of Nordland. But Sandtorv is not happy about the sight. – The video illustrates that there has been an explosion of growth on these killer whales. I have traveled at sea my entire professional life. It is grotesque how many marine mammals there have been, says Sandtorv. There are far too many of them, Sandtorv believes, who propose “taxation”, i.e. culling, as part of the solution. Sandtorv fishes for herring itself. A population that the quagmire is also interested in. – There is talk of “taxing” it down to a livable level. I must point out that I am not at all opposed to there being distress in the sea, he says. The experienced herring fisherman Alexander Olsen, coxswain on board “Skolmen”, met a large number of killer whales on the outer side of Røst in 2021. He thinks we need to kill more killer whales Sandtorv is just as concerned about what he sees and believes that killer whales are more aggressive around food than they have been before. – The behavior I see now has changed significantly. And then I get worried about the welfare of the animals, to put it bluntly. This means that a colossal number of them are allowed to grow up. Sandtorv argues that marine mammals can be used in the food industry and that marine mammals can be managed humanely. – So it’s not something you should throw at the boss afterwards. After all, the product will be used. There is a lot of good protein in a quail, underlines Sandtorv. Photo: Pelagisk Forening In his opinion, we create a skewed balance in the food chain by taking from the bottom, but not at the top. For the fishermen, this presents several problems, such as the mites coming into contact with and ruining fishing trips. – It is an enormous cost for the fishermen, plus you use much longer. You have to go in and repair instead of fishing. Kristian Sandtorv is the skipper of this boat, Havdrøn. Photo: Privat Marine mammals and more seafood In a report from 2022, the Institute of Marine Research concluded that fishermen in the North Atlantic catch a total of closer to 4.2 million tonnes of fish and seafood a year. In comparison, a whale and a seal 25 million tonnes of seafood. In the report, they wanted to find out: Are marine mammals and humans competitors on the dinner plate, or is there enough seafood for everyone? Briefly summarized, the researchers found that: Marine mammals’ food consumption is changing. The marine mammals seem to be eating more and in different areas than before. According to head of research Mette Skern-Mauritzen, this is due to several things at once. – Firstly, we see that the quail populations are improving, after being far down due to the historic quail catch, she tells the Norwegian Marine Research Institute. Secondly, the ecosystems in the north are changing rapidly. – There would have been an international outcry. Audun Rikardsen is a professor at UiT and has been researching quail for many years. He confirms that the number of killer whales has increased. However, he rejects the claim that it is negative for the herring population and other fish populations. On the contrary, the increase in the number of different quail species is a positive sign, according to Rikardsen. – It shows that we manage the resources in the sea better by providing more food for populations of, among others, killer whales, humpback whales and other quail species that have increased in numbers. Whale researcher Audun Rikardsen after spotting a killer whale. Photo: Fredrik Broms There are not so many killer whales that they manage to harvest the herring population, says Rikardsen. In fact, the killer whale and other quail species also indirectly have a positive effect on the herring population and the ecosystem in the sea, according to him. – They help to fertilize the sea, meaning that all the poo that comes out is food for phytoplankton, which is then food for zooplankton, which in turn is food for fish larvae, including herring larvae. Here, a killer whale has been fitted with a so-called CatCam, as part of tagging to research the behavior of the whales. Photo: Audun Rikardsen / Audun Rikardsen He never thinks it will be appropriate to start hunting killer whales to, for example, get more herring. – It will be too easy to just take out one species to get more of another, says Rikardsen. – And management takes care of several species, so-called ecosystem-based management. If killer whales were caught only with the intention of getting more herring, there would also be an international outcry. Learned to find a free meal The fact that there have been more killer whales around the fishing boats has to do with the fact that there are more of them, but also that the killer whales have learned some tricks. – The killer whales are attracted to the fishing boats because they get, in a way, a free meal. They get the food served on platters, he says. The killer whales can hear the fishing boats from a very long distance, says Rikardsen. – We have shown that with marking, that they can be attracted tens of kilometers away. But he does not want to say they have become more aggressive. – They have perhaps become tougher on the note because they have become more and more used to it. But I have never observed that there have been more arguments between the family groups with the killer whales, it is quite the opposite that they socialize more, says Rikardsen. Rikardsen emphasizes that he has seen examples of other species such as humpback whales and fin whales being attracted to fishing boats to a greater extent, and that all these whales around the fishing boats can cause problems. Individuals can end up in the nota or become entangled in the journey. – It is not good for either the fishermen or the whales, and it is something we are researching to find a method of using irritating sound to reduce the dangers of this, says Rikardsen.
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