Norway's fisheries director, Frank Bakke-Jensen, issued a warning on Wednesday against approaching a 'spy' whale named Hvaldimir.
The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries has warned the residents of Oslo to keep their distance from “Hvaldimir,” the white whale who appears to have chosen the fjord as his permanent home after traveling down the coast of Norway in 2019.
“We especially encourage people in boats to keep a good distance to avoid the whale being injured or, in the worst case, killed by boat traffic,” fisheries director Frank Bakke-Jensen said on Wednesday.
Norway considers beluga whales a protected species. Bakke-Jensen believes the whale “now resides in the inner Oslofjord,” a densely populated area that raises the risk of injury due to human contact. He said that Hvaldimir has suffered “minor injuries” from contact with boats before.
The whale first attracted attention in April 2019, when it appeared on the northern coast of Norway a...