It seems the whales have been making frequent visits close to shore this year. The latest example is a humpback whale which was spotted deep in Ísafjarðardjúp bay in the Westfjords over the weekend. The giant whale was swimming unusually close to the shore, right up in the shallows, according to a local man who captured photographs of the animal with his aerial drone.
The video shows the whale coughing up and getting rid of a plastic bag.
Read more: Microplastic pollution in Reykjavík drinking water only a fraction of global average
Guðni Albert Einarsson shared the video on Facebook. He told the local newspaper Morgunblaðið that it is unusual to see humpback whales so close to shore and so deep in the bay. Usually these giants keep to deeper waters, further out in the bay.
The animal was a full grown adult, according to Guðni, who estimated its length to have been 10-12 m (33-40 ft) in length. I have never seen them this close to the shore. He was clearly hunting something, shrimp I suspect.
The video clearly shows the whale trying to get rid of something white that looks like a plastic bag. I couldn't investigate this as well as I would have liked, but it looked to me like a plastic bag. The animal was clearly rolling in the water to get rid of this thing from its mouth, coughing it out, so to speak, and then this thing floated in the water for a while after he had swum past it, so it couldn't have been very heavy.
After the whale had gotten rid of what appears to be a plastic bag he dove back into the depths.
It seems the whales have been making frequent visits close to shore this year. The latest example is a humpback whale which was spotted deep in Ísafjarðardjúp bay in the Westfjords over the weekend. The giant whale was swimming unusually close to the shore, right up in the shallows, according to a local man who captured photographs of the animal with his aerial drone.
The video shows the whale coughing up and getting rid of a plastic bag.
Read more: Microplastic pollution in Reykjavík drinking water only a fraction of global average
Guðni Albert Einarsson shared the video on Facebook. He told the local newspaper Morgunblaðið that it is unusual to see humpback whales so close to shore and so deep in the bay. Usually these giants keep to deeper waters, further out in the bay.
The animal was a full grown adult, according to Guðni, who estimated its length to have been 10-12 m (33-40 ft) in length. I have never seen them this close to the shore. He was clearly hunting something, shrimp I suspect.
The video clearly shows the whale trying to get rid of something white that looks like a plastic bag. I couldn't investigate this as well as I would have liked, but it looked to me like a plastic bag. The animal was clearly rolling in the water to get rid of this thing from its mouth, coughing it out, so to speak, and then this thing floated in the water for a while after he had swum past it, so it couldn't have been very heavy.
After the whale had gotten rid of what appears to be a plastic bag he dove back into the depths.
