OC Residents Unveil Plan to Save ‘Russian Spy Whale’ in Norway – Orange County Register

Rich German still hears in his mind the deep breaths of the great white whale as she approached, slowly swimming around the boat.

“Then he comes and goes like a dog’s head,” said German, an ecologist from Laguna Beach who heads the non-profit organization OneWhale. He recently returned from a visit to the tame beluga who lives in a Norwegian port.

“He’s the cutest of white whales and you instantly fall in love with him,” German said of Hvaldimir, affectionately known to locals as Hvaldi. “But then you realize how his situation is not natural.”

On Friday, April 22, the German, who spent more than a decade on the basin of water with whales and cetaceans, will talk about the whale during a fundraiser at the Laguna Art Museum. The event is part of the series Nature and Art Museum.

The hope is that a better understanding of the fate of the beluga inspire support for the creation of the world’s first beluga whale reserve in a Norwegian fjord. Norway is one of the last three countries in the world to still practice whaling.

German will speak with Regina Crosby, a San Clemente filmmaker and co-founder of OneWhale, and Diana Reiss, a marine mammal scientist who directs the Animal Behavior and Conservation Graduate Program at Hunter College in New York. Reiss, who helped free Humphrey, a humpback whale trapped in San Francisco Bay in 1985 and again in 1990, is an adviser to the nonprofit.

The trio will detail the nonprofit’s work to fund volunteers on the ground to protect the whale and its eventual goal of placing Hvaldimir in a fjord not far from the town of Hammerfest, where it first appeared in 2019 wearing a skintight camera harness tagged with “St. Petersburg gear. »

Russian agent?

Hvaldi was spotted by a Norwegian fisherman who jumped into the water and freed the whale from its harness.

Hammerfest, home to around 11,000 people, is the northernmost town in the world and is not far from the Russian border. Experts have speculated that the Russian military may have trained the roughly 11-year-old male beluga as a spy whale; like the United States, Russia is known to train cetaceans and marine mammals for military service. But according to media reports, Russian officials have never confirmed those suspicions.

Hvaldi followed a boat in the port of Hammerfest and stayed there four months, becoming a tourist magnet and a star on social networks. Then it traveled south, probably in search of food sources, before returning. Over time, the experts noted that it seemed to crave human contact. Belugas are social and generally travel in large groups.

He followed the boats, interacted with crowds of tourists and has become a pest in some farms of salmon from Norway, where he is known to catch fish.

German said that in the three years since first appearing in the Hammerfest area, the 14ft whale has suffered life-threatening injuries. His side was sliced ​​off, he was caught in boat propellers twice, he had hooks in his tail and the upper part of the inside of his mouth was rubbed raw by people throwing big obstacles at him to play tug of war and fetch.

“It runs along the coast and finds himself in difficult situations,” Reiss said. “As a scientist, I think it is important to have an organization to observe and protect. If looking for food alone and that everyone knew would be good. But, it was modeled and learned to be under the care of humans.

With the summer sun high in the sky for almost 24 hours while Crosby was in Norway, she said the whale had a constant stream of onlookers and not all of them were nice.

“I saw an absolute riot around the whale,” said Crosby about this trip in 2019. “I’ve seen people ask her picture; naked and drunk guy trying to swim with him, and because it’s a whale driven, I’ve seen people throw him constantly things to try to make the report.

The city of Hammerfest and the Norwegian government tried to find the help of the whale, but the options were captive or take in a group of wild belugas, which, according to experts, probably would not go well for him because of his “home to humans,” Crosby noted.

German and Crosby formed OneWhale for the sole purpose of finding sanctuary for Hvaldi.

Crosby returned to Norway in the summer of 2020 and Hvaldi had moved south. She could tell he had lost weight, but seemed to find food by swimming along the coast in search of salmon farms. It usually hides under a catamaran and when salmon aquaculture workers depart on their boats, he follows them to the fish farms.

“Some liked to be with him and others wanted to kill him,” said Crosby. “His presence also stress the salmon. This is not a sustainable life for him. Some say it’s free, but it is not live. It’s like having a dog sleeping near a restaurant.

A reserve of whales

Over the past year, OneWhale has stepped up its efforts, adding a team of experts and scientists as advisors on how best to help the beluga whale. He also created a group that carries out daily checks on Hvaldi, while keeping people away.

The idea is to take a OneWhale empty fjord and the buckle as a new safe house for Hvaldi and other captive whales. Fjords are narrow waterways which extend inwardly land from the sea.

“He needs a period of time between human interactions,” Crosby said.

She said she had spoken with the Norwegian government agencies who told him that a local community would need a location.

“The first place that came to mind was Hammerfest,” she said. “I met the mayor and the inhabitants. I gave them a list of behaviors and habits documented. “

Among them was Katrine Næss, project manager at Hammerfest. In collaboration with residents, Naess and OneWhale identified a picturesque fjord unused north of Hammerfest.

Naess said she presented the plan to local politicians and received good feedback.

“The ‘recipe’ for how to create a whale sanctuary in Norway doesn’t exist,” Naess said from his home in Hammerfest. “We are confident that people will support the project when they see the scale of our plans, the cleanup, beautiful Arctic fjord, and our ambitions to give Hvaldimir and other whales a quality of life. »

Earlier this month, Crosby, German, several OneWhale board members and two whale vets traveled to Norway to check out Hvaldi and see the fjord. Veterinarians examined the beluga and reported that the mouth wounds had healed over the winter.

The fjord they visited is a spectacular glacial space with a U-shape and dizzying canyons on either side. The area is one mile deep and its opening is half a mile wide.

“I was worried it wouldn’t be to the taste of the whale,” Crosby said. “But I was overjoyed. It was spectacular and perfect. It’s shallow and sandy where he can scratch his back, there’s a deep area to snorkel, there’s waterfalls and sunshine, and lots of sunshine.

And one day, if Hvaldi can be released to want to be around people, there might be a time when it will be released to live with wild belugas.

“I wish he was free of humans,” Crosby said. “I hope there will be a day when I will see her again … as sad as it makes me.”