~ FOR GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF OUR MARINE LIFE ~
Elding's Research Team
Our team is made up of dedicated wildlife enthusiasts who have spent years gathering valuable insights into the behaviour and ecology of whales and dolphins in our waters and around the world. Under the expert guidance of our research coordinators, we strive to better understand these incredible marine mammals and their environment.
Eline van Aalderink
My name is Eline van Aalderink and I am an Icelandic/Dutch marine biologist with a specialisation in marine mammal ecology and conservation. I have been lucky enough to study whales and dolphins all over the world, and my passion for them grows with every encounter and every new finding I discover about them. The common theme in my research has (unfortunately) been that human activities are disturbing the individual wellbeing and sometimes even the health of whole populations of these incredible animals. For example, I researched how anthropogenic interference is decreasing survival chances of dolphin calves in Australia, and in Greece I supervised students that conducted research projects on the many threats that Mediterranean marine mammals face. For my master’s thesis (for which I collected data onboard Elding boats in 2019), I assessed the impacts of whaling and whale-watching on Faxaflói’s minke whales, Iceland’s economy, and society. Now, as Elding’s research coordinator, I am leading our team’s analyses of long-term data to form a complete picture of the status of Faxaflói’s marine mammals and to determine what actions our research team, our whale watching crew, and our passengers can take to save the sea.
Miquel Pons
My name is Miquel, I studied a Master’s degree in Biodiversity, Ecology, Evolution in France with internships in Spain. I specialized during those internships on demographic analysis of dolphin populations and wrote my Master’s thesis on epizootic impact on survival of the pilot whale population of the Strait of Gibraltar. I have also been a research assistant during two summers in the Strait of Gibraltar doing field work, data collecting, research and training volunteers.
During my free time I use my knowledge in biostatistics to work for an NGO, giving value to the citizen science data they gathered on sharks and rays of the Mediterranean Sea.
As much as I enjoy to study wildlife through a computer, it never reaches the feeling of an encounter with a wild animal, and it’s particularly true regarding cetaceans. As a guide and captain, I believe that it is essential to make our passengers aware of the threats upon the ecosystems and how important our actions are in respect to conservation issues.
Babsi Neubarth
I am Babsi, currently leading research efforts for Whale Watching Akureyri up North in Eyjafjörður. My academic background includes two master’s degrees: an MNM in Coastal and Marine Management and an MSc in Tourism and Environment. My research focuses on deep-diving cetaceans and the complex dynamics of human-nature interactions, particularly within the context of marine ecotourism.
Over the years, I have conducted fieldwork across Iceland, in New Zealand, and in various international settings. Whale watching, in my view, offers a unique platform for public engagement—bringing people closer to nature while disseminating current scientific findings in an accessible way.
I am also working as a RIB captain and can never get enough of those magic moments where we turn off the engines and just listen to the whales breathe! For me, every marine mammal encounter is special but also intriguing because there is so much we do not know...
