Orcas in Northern Norway: Herring Season, Science and Law

Can you really see orcas in northern Norway, and can you get in the water with them? Yes, and it is legal. Orcas and humpbacks follow the herring into the fjords around Skjervøy and Kvænangen, roughly from October into January or early February. Norway has a 2019 whale watching regulation that covers swimming, diving and paddling. But it is cold, dark, crowded in places, and not the kind of trip Ocean Calling builds. Here is the honest picture.

Why the orcas come: a fjord full of herring

The orcas are not here for us. They are here for herring. Each winter, huge schools of herring move into sheltered fjords to wait out the season, and the whales follow the food. Operators and trip reports describe the main window as October to mid-January, with large schools heading into the fjords east of Skjervøy, especially Kvænangen.

This place is not fixed forever. In past decades the herring wintered further south, around the Lofoten area, and Norwegian orca researchers describe a period after about 2002 when the herring moved offshore and the whales became much harder to follow. Sources disagree on exactly when the herring settled near Skjervøy: some accounts describe the move north around 2017, others around 2019. The honest summary is that the whales go where the fish go, and the fish have changed their minds before.

The humpbacks feed on the same herring. Seeing both species in one fjord is a real spectacle. It is also why so many boats gather in the same small area.

How do orcas in northern Norway hunt?

The most beautiful thing about these orcas is not their size. It is their teamwork. Norwegian orcas are famous for "carousel feeding": the family works together to herd herring into a tight ball close to the surface, and then the whales feed on the fish they have trapped.

Researchers say this is learned, not instinct. As the Norwegian Orca Survey team explained to DAN's Alert Diver magazine, the orcas are not born knowing how to carousel feed, or when and where to travel for the best food. They learn it from their families. Some groups have also learned to feed around fishing boats, picking up herring that falls from the nets.

A 2022 study in Marine Mammal Science put tags with video cameras on five adult male orcas at the herring wintering grounds in 2016 and 2017. Two were filmed carousel feeding and two feeding around fishing boats. On average they caught about one herring per minute when carousel feeding, and fewer around the boats. The authors estimate that an adult male needs roughly 285 to 578 herring a day to cover his energy needs. That is a lot of careful, patient work, and every interruption costs them.

What the Norwegian whale watching rule says

Norway regulates this activity with the Regulation on whale watching (Forskrift om utøvelse av hvalsafari, FOR-2019-12-05-1651), set by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries and in force from 5 December 2019. Its aim, in its own words, is that whale watching happens in a safe, sustainable and considerate way, without disturbing the animals in their natural habitat. It covers all activity meant to observe whales, and it names swimming, diving and paddling directly.

The clearest numbers in it are about fishing, not about whales. A whale watching vessel may not stay closer than 0.2 nautical miles (370 m) to a vessel that is fishing or to its gear. Swimming, diving or paddling closer than 0.4 nautical miles (740 m) to fishing vessels and gear is forbidden. The Directorate of Fisheries may add further provisions, and breaking the rule can bring fines or penalties under Norway's marine resources law.

So in-water encounters are lawful, within those limits. But "legal" is not the same as "well managed". Whale and Dolphin Conservation called the 2019 rule disappointingly brief and lacking in detail, and has reported operators dropping snorkellers very close to the whales around Skjervøy. Visit Tromsø publishes its own whale guidelines for operators and has called publicly for stricter regulation. Please check the current text of the rule before you travel, because the Directorate can change it.

Wildlife encounters are unpredictable. Orca watching and snorkelling should always follow local regulations and experienced professional guidance.

The conservation layer: crowding, noise and fishing boats

Norway's orcas are not in crisis the way some small populations are. In 2019, Tore Haug of the Institute of Marine Research in Tromsø told AFP that orcas and herring fishing boats have shared these grounds for decades without stopping the whale stocks from growing. The same report described boats with divers getting within a few metres of the whales, and said Norwegian authorities aimed to bring in recommended rules for these activities.

The real issue is pressure on a small space. When many boats, many zodiacs and many swimmers gather on the same feeding orcas in a short winter day, each group may follow its own rules and still add to a crowd. Feeding is hard work, and a herring ball broken up by a swimmer or a propeller is a lost meal. Science on how much this disturbance costs Norway's orcas over time is still limited, and we would rather say "we don't know" than pretend the answer is zero.

There is also the travel cost to be honest about. A winter trip above the Arctic Circle usually means flights, and boat days in rough, cold water burn a lot of fuel. If you go, one longer, slower trip with a careful operator is kinder than several short ones. Our piece on the cold truth behind Norway's viral orca videos goes deeper into what the clips do not show.

Cold, dark and real: what the trip feels like

This is a polar winter trip. Around midwinter the sun does not rise above the horizon at all in places like Tromsø, and you get a few hours of soft blue light instead of a day. Storms cancel boat days. The water is very cold, and snorkellers need serious thermal protection. Even with good gear, the time you can stay in is short.

If you choose a boat-based watch, the practical things matter more than the photos. A roll-top dry bag keeps a phone and a spare warm layer dry on deck, and a small travel kit with a refillable bottle helps on long, cold days far from a shop. Our guide to water temperatures and wetsuits by destination explains why cold water changes everything about how long you can stay in.

Where Ocean Calling stands

Norway is one of the places where an in-water orca encounter is lawful. It is also the opposite of the trips we build: freezing water, very little daylight, crowded feeding grounds, and a level of cold-water skill that has little to do with the warm, slow pace our guests come to us for. I would rather say that clearly than stretch our brand over a trip it does not fit. Orcas, in general, are rarely part of ethical swim encounters, and our piece on why orcas are rarely part of ethical swims explains why.

If you go with someone else, ask simple questions. Do you keep the 740 m distance from fishing boats? How many swimmers go in at once, and for how long? Do you wait for the whales to come, or drop people in front of them? Do you leave when other boats arrive? A good operator will answer calmly, and will happily lose a photo to protect a meal.

If this made you curious about meeting the ocean in a warmer, slower way, you can explore our upcoming retreats.

Questions people ask

Wildlife encounters are never guaranteed and never forced. Ocean Calling works only with vetted, ethical local operators, and every animal is free to approach, or not, entirely on its own terms.