A humpback whale that was found trapped east of Hrísey on Friday has now vanished without a trace — though sonar readings suggest it may lie still in a wet grave beneath the surface.
Crew members from Arctic Sea Tours in Dalvík went out again this morning to search the area but found no sign of the animal.
“It’s either managed to free itself or simply become too weak, drowned, and sunk,” said Freyr Antonsson, owner of Arctic Sea Tours. “We can see four humpbacks in the area near where it was last seen, but all of them are free and swimming normally.”
Possible entanglement in research equipment
Antonsson noted that no visible fishing gear was found near the whale, which makes the cause of its entrapment puzzling.
“That’s what troubles us. When a whale is caught in a lumpfish net or longline, you always see signs of it — bits of rope, buoys, or boats tending gear — but there was nothing like that yesterday or today.”
He speculated that the whale might have been caught in marine research equipment that had drifted or moved position, though he said he was unaware of any such devices in the area.
Search to continue Monday
The company’s whale-watching boat Máni passed over the site around 11 a.m. yesterday. Sonar readings showed an object at a depth of six to seven meters, which could possibly be the whale.
Skippers from Arctic Sea Tours plan to return on Monday morning, weather permitting, bringing an underwater drone to try to confirm whether the object detected on sonar is indeed the missing humpback.