15/10/2024
My stay in Norway is succesful. Together with Frank Rosell, Hanna Lodberg-Holm and Christian Andre Robstad from the University of South-Eastern Norway we managed to safely trap and tag the first otter in the Bondaselva river close to where we stay in Sæbø, Møre og Romsdal. More otters will be trapped and tagged. The project is about a human wildlife conflict involving otters and salmon. The salmon are radiotagged with small, external VHF tags and are followed in the rivers here by PhD student Erlend Mjelde Hansen, working for Norce. It is clear from his project that otters predate on the salmon migrating up the Bondaselva and other rivers. The otters follow the salmon to catch them, but it is not clear how many otters are involved and how they use all of the food resources in the rivers and lakes during this season. Otters live here normally along the coast at the fjords and the banks of the rivers and lakes, but now seem to be concentrated in the rivers correlated to the activity of salmon. Data from the radiotagged otters will make it clear what is actually going on.
Some relaxation is nice too in between the busy hours. For this a floating sauna visit with splashes in the cold fjord was very welcome. 😃
Photo 1: the released and tagged otter, photo 2: predated salmon, photo 3: Bondaselva river, photo 4: Bondaselva river valley (view from the mountains), photo 5: the beautiful fjord of Sæbø, photo 6: a welcome splash in the fjord.
