The Whale Watching room in the Húsavík Whale Museum is now under renovation

Entrance Fees 2010:

Adults: 1.000 ISK
Children (6-14 years): 450 ISK
Senior Citizens (from 65 years): 800
Groups (+10): Adults: 800 ISK, children: 350 ISK

The Húsavík Whale Museum will be open every day from 10:00 to 14:00 until October 20th.

Visitor numbers in August 2009 surpass visitor numbers in August from the opening of the Whale Museum in 1997.

Visitors to the Whale Museum in August 2009 were 8.850 as compared to 5.900 in August 2008, giving an increase of 50%.

After a spell of bad weather the sun is shining in Húsavík again and a humbpack was seen in the bay this morning so things are looking quite good for the last part of the season.

23rd of June, earlier this summer, a team of researchers tagged a blue whale in Skjálfandi Bay, hoping to get more information on the travels of the species.

In June and July the Whale Museum received around 30% more visitors this year than during the same period last year.

 

Saturday 1^st of August 2009, 17:00 hrs

The Húsavík Project

Dutch friends of the Whale Museum and Húsavík pay their respects. On Saturday August 1st at 17:00 the Dutch novelist and poet Paul Sterk will make a presentation of his works at the Whale Museum and officially hand over the latest CD of the Dutch band "The Giants of Húsavík" to the museum.

The fin whale that had stranded in Vík í Mýrdal in the south of Iceland in November 2008 (see news from December 2008) was successfully moved to Húsavík. Its skeleton was retrieved and hauled to Húsavík last week-end. Atli Már Guðjónsson, owner of the construction business in Vík, assisted the Museum from the start of this project to achieve the impossible.  

Yesterday afternoon, the passengers of a whale watching tour spotted something completely out of the ordinary: a basking shark approaching the boat! According to the locals, it must have been about 40 years ago that a basking shark was spotted in Skjálfandi Bay. 

After about ten days and many trips without spotting blue whales in Skjáfandi Bay, the whale watching boats had another blue whale encounter on the 3rd of July.

The 61st annual meeting of the IWC has come to an end. Among other things, the delegates discussed the population size of different species, whaling methods, aboriginal subsistence whaling, whale watching and the future role of the IWC.

For the second time, the Ice Climate Education Camp 2009 (I.C.E) organized by Arved Fuchs, a German expedition leader, is held in Húsavík and the Whale Museum. Students from all over the world took part in a competition to qualify. Ten were selected and invited to participate in this workshop about Global Warming and its possible effects on the Arctic Region. This year's participants are from 7 nations.

On Wednesday June, 24th, the new exhibition about the story of the Whale Museum and the transformation of Húsavík's old slaughterhouse and freezing plant into the Whale Museum will be formally opened. The opening takes place at 6 p.m. in the lecture room of the Whale Museum. Special guest will be Ásbjörn Björgvinsson, Founder and Manager of the Museum until summer 2008, who will also receive a recognition for his work in the past 11 years.

In the past two weeks, Skjálfandi Bay has been bursting with marine life; on some days up to five different whale species have been sighted.

For over two hours last night humpback whales played, breached and blowed just outside the Húsavík harbour.

The whaling fleet is getting ready to start the hunt of the fin whales this upcoming week-end, according to yesterday's news reports. However, the daily paper Fréttablaðið reported, that Japan may not be interested in importing Icelandic whale meat this year.

The first blue whales of the season entered Skjálfandi bay yesterday.

A children's choir from Öldutúnsskóli in Hafnarfjörður visited the Whale Museum this morning.

On Tuesday the 26th of May, the first whaling boats will leave the harbour to start the minke whale hunt. According to the national newspaper Morgunblaðið, the minke whalers received 3 whaling permits to achieve the quota of 100 minke whales released by the former Minister of Fisheries Einar K. Guðfinnsson. As the paper pointed out, one of the permits will go to a woman, who is one of the 20 students that had attended a whaling course in the past 3 months. Considering the difficulties of killing these animals in a humane way, the question arises if people who had just finished a course and have no practical experience should be provided immediately with a whaling permit.         

It is still early in the season and the number of humpback whales in the bay has not yet been comparible with the previous years. However, our research team managed to capture and identify an individual during the trip on the 21st of May that was documented twice in July 2008 and is now known as MN 102 or Sketch.  

 

It is now the 3rd year that the Whale School or "Hvalaskóli" took place in the Whale Museum. The 3-day workshop for shool children in 5th grade took place from Monday 18th - Wednesday 20th. As in the years before, the children spent the first day in the Whale Museum...

After days of rumours that the humpback whales have returned to Skjálfandi Bay, it now is confirmed. On the 1st of May, a humpback whale was sighted during the whale watching trip in the morning. And furthermore, this individual appears to be a re-capture from 2007! After comparing the pictures taken during the trip...

From mid April, regular whale watching trips have been offered, departing Húsavík at 1.30 p.m. daily, should the weather co-operate. This is the first time that regular trips are offered this early in the season here in Iceland's north, and quite successful as it seems...

In reaction to the announcement to not withdraw the decision of the former Fisheries Minister to persue commercial whaling in 2009, the town council of Húsavík has send out a proposal to the Ministry of Fisheries asking to establish a local whale protection area where whaling is banned completely. It states in the letter...

The Minister of Fisheries, Steingrímur J. Sigfusson, announced today that he will not repeal the decision of the former Fisheries Minister, Einar K. Guðfinnsson, to resume commercial whaling of 150 fin whales and 100 minke whales starting this year until 2013. He did, however, limit the whaling activities for the ongoing year firstly and asked the whalers not to count on its continuation in the following 4 years.  

In reaction to the decision of Iceland´s Minister of Fisheries to resume commercial whaling, the Húsavík Whale Museum and the Whale Watching Company North Sailing state the following:

"The Húsavík Whale Museum and North Sailing regret and criticize the decision of Iceland's Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture to permit large scale whaling during the next five years, killing a total of 1.000 minke whales and 750 fin whales.

Yesterday, the outgoing Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, Einar K. Guðfinnsson, suddenly announced his decision to resume commercial whaling from 2009 - 2013. He determined the quota to be 150 fin whales and 100 minke whales each year, which he bases on the recommendations for sustainable whaling by the Icelandic Marine Research Institute.