Giant whales move into Greenland waters as ice disappears

NUUK – Sea ice has been disappearing from East Greenland, allowing giant whales to take advantage and move into previously inaccessible areas.

Key points

• Scientists describe the result as seasonal Arctic "feeding frenzies" – part of a major regime shift in the ocean environment along East Greenland.
• Other Arctic species, nevertheless, are "in trouble now", explained Prof Heide-Jørgensen.
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• That is a sensitive matter in Greenland, a country where some whales are hunted.

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Scientists describe the result as seasonal Arctic "feeding frenzies" – part of a major regime shift in the ocean environment along East Greenland. The change is dramatic: ship-based surveys in the region did not record a single humpback whale sighting there until 2006. In 2007, seven humpbacks were seen, and by 2024, there were 150 ship-based sightings of these giant whales. The first systematic aerial surveys of baleen whales – a group that includes fin, minke and humpbacks – off the East Greenland coast were carried out by the researchers during the summers of 2015 and 2024. They combined that information with the tracks of 15 satellite-tagged whales and testimony from Inuit hunters – all building a picture of what the lead researcher Prof Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen called a "major ecological regime shift". An estimated 4, 000 humpback whales, 6, 000 fin whales and 6, 000 minke whales visited the Greenland Sea in the summer of 2024.

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Prof Heide-Jørgensen, from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, informed BBC News that the changes in the region were "probably the most radical we can see anywhere in the subarctic". That shift is driven by rising sea temperatures and food availability. The whales appear to be feeding on fish that have moved into the warming waters of East Greenland. They estimated that the three whale species would consume at least 800, 000 tonnes of fish and krill during a summer feeding season. It is not clear from this study whether the change reflects an overall growth in the populations of these whale species, or just a redistribution from other areas. Other experts the BBC spoke to were concerned that the study suggested there was an influx of the animals from West Greenland.

That is a sensitive matter in Greenland, a country where some whales are hunted. According to But the scientists, their findings do suggest that these "opportunistic" baleen whales appear to be adapting and might even be benefiting from the change.

Animals including narwhals and belugas are sharing habitat with – or even being displaced by – these other whales. "For some species, climate change is not necessarily a problem – it opens up new opportunities, " remarked Prof Heide-Jørgensen, "but other species are losing their habitat".

For now, giant whales move into Greenland waters as ice disappears remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.