News
September 2004
Success again with long-finned pilot whale satellite-tagging in the Faroe
Islands
On the 25th August 2004, the Faroese Museum of Natural History satellite-tagged
seven long-finned pilot whales out of a pod of about 80-100 whales.
This was the second time with success: the first being on the 15th July 2000
when four whales out of a pod of about 80 whales were tagged.
The normal procedure from the pilot whaling with a half-ring of small boats
placed behind the pod, was used to drive the actual pods to shore. As soon
as a minor part of the whales was beached, the boats withdrew, the whales
for tagging were chosen and the remainder of the beached whales turned around
and pushed out again into the open sea. The whole pod was waiting for the
last tagged whales to be released.
Both tagging events lasted about an hour from the beginning of the tagging
until the whole pod swam freely out of the bay again.
Much information has been obtained from studies of the pilot whales taken,
but knowledge of their migration routes, diving and travelling capacity and
especially their winter area(s) remain as open questions which may only be
possible to answer by satellite-tagging. Here the traditional routine from
the pilot whaling has been shown to be an excellent strategy for obtaining
animals for the tagging procedure.
The tagging procedures and the subsequent movements of the whales from both
tagging events can be followed on the home page of the Faroese Museum of Natural
History: www.ngs.fo