New theory on why the whales are beaching, teoria eșuării la 2 săptămâni

Why are dying the pilot whales?

Ovidiu Banea, 

Environmental Ecology MSc,

Reykjavik 

3rd of August, 2019

On 19th-20th and 22nd of July 2019 we wanted to understand what happened with the pilot whales in SE Snaefellness, 4 km far from the sand beach where 53 whales died after stranded.

On 2nd of August 2019, just after 23.00H, cultural Association received an information that the whales are beaching again in Garđur we looked at the tide levels and we knew that at 1:30 will start the worse period of the stranded whales! With Ghebaur Daniel responsible of Ecotourism Department, Romanian - Icelandic NGO and with Corneliu Platon, we arrived at the stoned beach at 1:20 minutes AM. 

We found an enormous force deployment with more than 30-50 Professional rescuers, police, secured area, but huge activity of wetting the whales skin at shore but also in large. 

We registered ourselves like volunteers and asked authorities if their is place for us. The operation chief commander allowed us to go down when he saw us with cubes, masks and gloves. 

With Agnes, Piotr, Ragnar, Saemunđur and other motivated people we took care of 9 whales during more than 4 hours until the tide arrived again to better levels, around 6:30 AM. 

We saw many teams all over the shore, but also in the water, many pumps which were bringing the water from the Ocean closer to the stranded whales. I counted at least 7 dead whales and one was shot by the police with 3 bullets (to avoid the suffer). But more than 30-40 whales were released. As they were released and water increasing it was clear that they did not want to go to the Sea, but staying and coming back to the other not-released whales despite the efforts made by the special boats.

Daniel Ghebaur, Ovidiu Banea si Corneliu Platon  

before the registration to the chief commander of the rescue operation. 

With Ragnar, Agnes, Saemundur from Iceland, with Piotr from Poland and other volunteers without specific equipment we were ensuring the wetting of the whales more exposed to the shore and stones. The most exciting moment I had during this operation was when with Ragnar we looked to the right eye of a whale we were taking care and it seemed to us that she was smiling to us.

Development of the rescue operation near the shore. Far in large, other professional teams were securing the other stranded whales.

And the morning arrives with the tide coming again to the shore. We all are tired.

Causes of Cetacean (with teeth) beaching:

Cetacean beaching is far to be well understood (might be one matriarch goes closer to the shore because of sickness or another due to a difficult delivery, or because they just follow #Aureliaaurita jellyfish or other food like algae or squid. I don.t believe they are following makrill to eat until I do not see it in their stomach content analysis.

Causes of stranding: 

This became more clear to me after we analysed the causes of 53 pilot whales stranding around 18th of July 2018 at #Gammlaeyri sand beach at SE #Snæfellness Peninsula. The rapid tide-out! This might be the reason of the death of those 53 whales near Jóhannes & Ragnar Jónasson farm. During one of the three visits I did at their farm he told me that this year he observed an increased number of the seals from 20 in the last years to 40 this year. Kristjian from other closer farm told me he joined people while they were doing the movie and that he saw there 8 helicopters.

Tide and losses:

 

San Simon´s Island, Georgia (USA Today news) where 2 whales were reported as being dead on 16th of July 2019 and other 40 were pushed back to the see.

Fight for pilot whales, Iceland. 2nd of August 2019

Tide and its two weeks fluctuation

 

The tidal maximal spring (highest difference) and neap (lowest difference)  ranges occur with fool moon or new moon when syzygy (alienation of the sun and moon) is taking place

The rapid tide out. Corneliu told me that yesterday was the spring tide and that also 2 weeks ago the tide difference was at maximum. Every two weeks the tide seems to favor the whales to arrive closer to the shore and from here the risk to strand is more evident.

Theory of Cetacean stranding at the spring tide times 
by O.C. Banea, C. Platon & S.D. Ghebaur, 3.08.2019


Le Mont Saint Michel tide. Example of spring and neap tidal range.

There is a chance for whales to get closer to the shores while this high tide regim happen, the spring tide. Both accidents, at Gammlaeyri sand beach where 53 whales were spotted from helicopter on 18th (They migh have die on 16th like in Georgia, San Simon,s Iceland) and this stranding on the stoned beach near Keflavik airport on 2nd of August 2019, occurred at the spring tide times when the level of the water reaches its maximum. This together with the calm Sea water during these times might represent the main pilot whales stranding causes.

The tide level when we were called (picture on left). We knew that we have to go and give help them if we can. 

The losses I observed were younger individuals with lower body size, but also, heavy injured whales. It is known that these whales can dive to 500 m to find their prey, the young calves probably are not so trained to do it so deep and their respiratory tolerance might be deficient. If they need more air they have to breve faster, they would spend their energy faster than their older relatives. To assess better the situation of the whales where we were working putting water on them, I asked colleagues to count every 10-15 minutes the whale respiration rate. The average was around 5-7 respiration per minute. We focused then on those with less rate. On one whale, the closest to the shore, which was laying on her right side I observed "myoclonic jerks" at least 2 - 3 times at a time distance of 50-80 minutes. I think these were sleep benign myoclonic jerks. I looked careful with Ragnar, she was looking to us. We believe she smiled also.

Science: 

I imagine in the close future Iceland scientific community and these wonderful team of Professional Whale Rescuers (I thought that they belonged to the Whale Task Force) to do electroencephalograms to these whales and study their brain activity during the beaching time. Until then I only would wonder if there would be a possibility to study the diet of these whales, that related to the last 2-3 days, by analysing the stomach and intestine content of the dead individuals. Probably we can understand better their desire to beach.

Overall, I and my colleagues congratulate Iceland authorities for the rapid alert activation.

I believe the theory we support with two weeks stranding due to the coincidence with spring tidal regime would be not proved by another pilot whale stranding after 2 weeks when the new highest water level will arrive.

TAKK FYRIR!

Ovidiu Constantin Banea, 

Environmental Ecology MSc

New Zealand 2017 (HERE)

Spain 2013 (HERE) It was believed that the whales tried to commit suicide as they were stranding again on another closer beach. 

Iceland 2019 (HERE)

VIDEO 1 FROM ICELAND author: Bergling Árnardóttir 18th July 2019 (HERE)

VIDEO 2 FROM GEORGIA USA author: Paula English 16th of July 2019 (HERE)

VIDEO 3 FROM NEW ZEALAND, 2012 (HERE)

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Școala de șoferi în Islanda

Permisele de conducere sunt acordate la finalizarea lecțiilor de conducere cu un instructor de conducere și lecții la o școală de șoferi. Permisele de conducere pot fi obținute cel mai devreme la vârsta de 17 ani.

Mirabela Blaga

Responsabil secția de juridic și asistență pentru încadrare în muncă
Legal Advice and Employment Assistance Department

Reykjavík, 17.07.2019

Procesul

Durata cursului este de aproximativ 25 lecții, împărțită în trei părți: prima parte Școala 1 (Ö1), a doua parte Școala 2 (Ö2) și a treia Școala 3 (Ö3).

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The latest whale and whale beaching in Iceland

The latest Globicephala sp.

22.07.2019

Reykjavik

by Ovidiu C. Banea

After we came yesterday from the region of Gamlæryi where we met Jóhannes, a farmer on his tractor, and had the amiability to tell us about the region and the risks to visit it, journalists arrived today in the area of Gamlæryi and they did more than 50 pictures to the place and to the dead carcasses. They used special car and tracks to arrive there.

We hope soon specialists form Icelandic marine biology institutions or veterinarians with police will visit the area to protect the site for visitors and avoid other unpleasant situations of infections, epidemics or other parasites distribution. 

Icelandic representative of Crispus NGO Sibiu Romania will try to install 3 cameras with infrared far from the site to analyse the behavior of the land predator arctic fox in the region.

The reasons of why the whales stranded is not well known yet and it is difficult to make affirmations. Probably a mixture of reasons produced the whales to be stranded. In our opinion the food abundance and the clear waters might represent a good place for the whales to beach. It is now more evident from the video recorded on the 40 whales stranded on 16th of July 2019 in Sant Simons Island, Georgia that whales are going together and help the injured one or the one which might have a difficult delivery. On 18th of July 2019 Berglind Árnardóttir recorded a video of a pilot whale during 2 hours on the tide-in moments and shared it with us. It was clear that the whale was approaching the shore. Why is that, remains a mistery. The whales are beaching for centuries here, in Faroe Islands and even we dislike totally the Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the sea waters we cannot blame humans as being the anthropogenic factor of these 53 whales death until there is no pertinent analyses of their stomach content. Other condition might be the magnet of the brain the whale capacity to follow the routes in the sea using their magnetite or their geomagnetism sense. If this got lost then yes, there it might be another reason. But why to be lost? Military exercise, less likely to have an exercise here and another one at 8.000 km far. Or in different years to have the whale in search for the beach in November last austral summer in New Zealand and now boreal summer here. The climate change, might be, but not the human factor it and the print of industrialization because this happened for centuries.

So, Gamlæryi is a tide dependent wetland is a new mini delta and is plenty of food and wellness. The whales want to beach in Georgia or here, but yes without having into account a tide of 4 meters which in calm conditions you do not feel it. They just loose their energy to run from the front of water.

Nature is nature, the mammals arrived to the shore for food for Aurelia aurita, we saw hundreds and thousands of them dead or dying on the shore of Gamlæry lake. Or they came to help a injured whale of the group or they came to the beach because they lost the way due to the biomagnetism lost capacity due to a submarine volcanic eruption, the reason they come to the shore could be important and nice to study but the reason they died is obvious. The low tide or the social bond and solidarity with the victim. I still prefer the first since we do not have evidences on their consciousness. 

A larger multi-region studies and an urgent contact between researchers from New Zealand, Norway, Iceland and United States where exists evidence of these losses in the last 6 years is needed to assess and understand all ecological factors and analyze them before claiming people as the main problem or before claiming the whale of eating our fish, because those are not so good in that. Crispus NGO Sibiu Romania and Romanian Icelandic NGO Iceland are ready to collaborate with other NGOs or even with the Icelandic Institute of Natural History (IINH) to have knowledge in this type of issues and be invited to first aid needed in such cases to avoid these events.

Gamlæryi maritime levee

Aurelia aurita in Southern Snæfelsness Penisnula. On 20th of July we observed more than 500-1000 exemplars on the shore and the bottom of the empty lake. We arrived there when the die was at lowest level. Ingvar H. Ólafsson told us and send us the levels on same day. We found that Aurelia aurita is living also at depths up to 500-1200 m where pilot whale only when I looked at home at the species. 

We support ecotourism and the facilities who will follow green policies in the region as Hótel Búðir who had the desire to share with us the videos recorded on same day at the reported news, on 18th of July 2019. We hope that, the lonely pilot whale is still alive and that she will appear some day with the newborn and we can help them to go back into the water.

Why are dying the pilot whales?

The pilot whales and Romanian Icelandic NGO

Summer wildlife survey to West Iceland
Reykjavik, 22nd of July 2019

by Ovidiu C. Banea
Environmental Ecologist MSc

Crispus NGO Sibiu Romania

Ecology Department

Between 20 and 22nd of July 2019 took place a research expedition organized by "Crispus NGO Sibiu". The survey was leaded by Dr Gabriel Vasile, and the main objective was to hike on Snæfellsjökull National Park, where he already climbed in the past with his wife Mădălina Ioana several times.

WHY?

On the way to the glacier and the camping site after we checked the news on the stranded pilot whales on peninsula and after we received from Dr Ingvar H. Olafsson the lower tide levels and their estimated time we decided to investigate the possible cause of the stranded whales and their death, whales localized one day before by David Schwarzhans, Reykjavik Helicopters pilot (BBC news) while he was flying near Southern Snæfellsnes beaches with tourists.
We knew from mbl.is (here) that whales were located somewhere on the 15-25 km at Longufjorur beach with almost impossible access of tourists. More specific maritime levee name appeared yesterday (not to be disclosed!)


First DW, what a news!

Two days ago Deutsche Welle showed a picture (video) with plastic bags and nets from Norway and related the news of Icelandic whales with it! It is about a whale which was killed on the shore in Norway (DW here). The researchers, during the necropsy, found many plastic bags in the stomach content? Why the whale was killed, probably the whale was suffering? What is the relation of the video from Norway with Icelandic tragedy of the dozens of dead pilot whales? None!


Not the global climate change! It is well known that those echolocation users, the pilot whales are social, that they dive more than 500 m and that they often die in huge number up to 145 as occurred last November (summer) in New Zealand (BBC here) or as happened on 16th of July, few days ago in Simon's Island when 50 whales stranded and two died (here).




WHAT?

Yes, few days ago a large number of #pilot-whales were stranding in tropical waters.

20-50 whales stranded on the Beach of St Simon's Island, Georgia (here). Two died

Coincidence or not? 

The first idea I had 3 days ago when I heard the news on Icelandic stranded whales from Gabriel and Mădălina was that some submarines are doing exercises near the Icelandic borders. Then, looking to the marine biologist explanations and Natural Museum expert opinion it was suggestion that they become dizzy when navigated in shallow waters. But 50 whales became dizzy at the same time? And how to be dizzy at tropics and in Iceland at the same time?

What happens here?

And we started to check the "Highly populated area" and "full of plastic bottles area" as somebody would expect, the people from DW. To see a similar case of a whale like in Norway full of plastic. No no, Iceland has no tourists in this regions. There would be another coincidence for the whales, full pod to have been ingesting hundreds of plastic bags. No way! Iceland has pure waters with no pollution! in this minidelta! We went 5 km on foot to arrive to the place when the lowest tide.

Hypothesis

The pilot whales are often stranding at the beach.

There are happy cases when the people help them to survive. The possible cause of the stranded whales in Iceland, THE LOW TIDE together with abundant food on the shores: We found thousands of moon jelly on the shore of few hundreds meters.

Were they eating in an estuar which is becoming delta or covered of water when the watters increases?

Aurelia aurita and other specific shore food. Why not?

NGO Crispus, Arctic Fox and More, Iceland

The team is approaching to the shore when the lowest tide level

The analysis and the observation of the shore showed plenty of moon jelly.

Aurelia aurita, Photo Madalina Ioana Vasile

Aurelia aurita, Photo Matalina Ioana Vasile

Photo: Mădălina Ioana Vasile

Camping site

Ecology And Tourism Department

Research and proposal, suggested mechanism? 

Study area. All submersible land is potentially a source of food, but the maritime levee and the beaches with two shores are main obstacle for the whales, they cannot escape, if the tide is to low.

The food and preparing the second day.

The lowest tide was at 15.00H. Takk fyrir, Ingvar! for sending us the tide levels.

Aurelia aurita, Photo: Ovidiu C. BaNEA

We did not climb the glacier.