Swimming With Orcas in Norway

Alan Taylor
January 30, 2019
18 Photos
In Focus

Olivier Morin, a photographer with Agence France-Presse, recently visited northern Norway to spend some time whale-watching and swimming in a frigid fjord with a group of orcas as they hunted for herring. The Reisafjorden region near the city of Tromso remains a “winter playground” for these whales, even as they are pushed farther north every year because warming waters force the herring ever northward in search of spawning areas that are the right temperature—37 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius). Although the orca population in the region is thriving at the moment, Norwegian authorities are considering some regulations to further protect the whales.

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Orcas chase herring in the Reisafjorden region, near the northern Norwegian city of Tromso, in the Arctic Circle, on January 14, 2019. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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The Sula, a whale-watching vessel, sails through the Reisafjorden on January 14, 2019. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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An aerial view shows the northern Norwegian city of Tromso on January 19, 2019. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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Male orcas chase herring on January 15, 2019, in the Reisafjorden. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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The Sula's first officer, Torbjorn Larsson, looks for orcas on January 13, 2019. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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The French orca expert Pierre Robert De Latour (center) looks for orcas on January 13, 2019, from an aluminum dinghy, with other divers. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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Orcas swim in the waters of the Reisafjorden on January 13, 2019. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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An underwater view of a female orca chasing herring on January 14, 2019, in the Reisafjorden #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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A female orca catches a herring as it swims near the Norwegian city of Tromso on January 13, 2019. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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Pierre Robert De Latour floats in the waters of the Reisafjorden on January 17, 2019. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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A diver looks at orcas chasing herring on January 14, 2019. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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Orcas dive together to chase herring on January 14, 2019. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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Pierre Robert De Latour looks for orcas from the deck of the Sula on January 13, 2019. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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The Norwegian captain Olav Magne looks for orcas aboard the Sula on January 14, 2019. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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An orca surfaces briefly in the Reisafjorden on January 17, 2019. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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Pierre Robert De Latour prepares to dive as a male orca swims by on January 14, 2019. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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Orcas chase herring into deeper water on January 14, 2019. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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Male orcas surface to breathe while chasing herring in the Reisafjorden, near the Norwegian city of Tromso, on January 15, 2019. #

Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty

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