Conserving Resident Killer Whales in the Pacific, securing recreational areas for local communities and encouraging local cultural activities – these are the latest projects to receive funding from Hurtigruten Foundation.
Funding sustainability projects both in Norway and globally, Hurtigruten Foundation contributes to making sure our guest of tomorrow can enjoy the same unique experiences as our guests of today.
For years, the conscious guests of Hurtigruten – the world’s largest expedition cruise company – has contributed to the local communities and areas Hurtigruten operates.
This round of funding spans from saving Resident Killer Whales in the North Pacific to enriching visitor experiences in Grytviken, South Georgia. But Hurtigruten also supports local project such as Perleporten Kulturhus in Honningsvåg and the Parked Piano in Finnsnes. (Read more about the projects further down.)
Through the Hurtigruten Foundation, Hurtigruten grants funds to projects, communities and organisations focused around three main pillars:
• Conserving the world’s endangered species.
• The fight against marine and plastic pollution.
• Financially supporting global and local projects at the over 200 destinations in more than 30 countries Hurtigruten’s ships and guests explore.
Many guests are involved in Hurtigruten Foundations activities such as beach cleaning. Hurtigruten Foundation is funded by direct donations and several onboard initiatives, including auctions, fund-raisers, and the “Green stay” program, where a donation is made for every night guests asks for the cabin not to be cleaned – thereby saving energy, power, detergent and water.
With minimal administration costs, all surplus funds from Hurtigruten Foundation are donated to selected organisations and causes – that all make a difference. Twice a year, the board of Hurtigruten Foundation will grant funds to initiatives in the areas Hurtigruten operate.
Hurtigruten Foundation also spans activities onboard and ashore, such as beach clean-ups, citizen science, water sampling, oil spill monitoring and other science related projects that aims to educate guests and create ambassadors for every destination on every voyage.
Hurtigruten Foundation has granted funds to the following projects: Southern Resident Killer Whale Conservation in the Pacific Northwest of the US and Canada.
Oceans Initiative is a team of scientists best known for conducting cutting-edge research to understand human threats to the Pacific Northwest critically endangered Southern resident killer whale (SRKW) population. These 75 individual killer whales, top predators and cultural icons of the Pacific Northwest, are in grave danger of extinction. The objective of the program is to build the evidence needed to guide the right mitigation needed to maximize recovery over the next decade.
In Greenland, one of the mayor challenges is that way too few young people get an education. Therefore, the Association of Greenlandic Children has since 2008 offered Sapiik to young people at the age of 14-15 years old. In short, Sapiik is an offer where young people in their spare time, through different kinds of activities, get inspired and motivated to choose an education. They also work with the young people’s personal skills so they are able to resist and react – if and when – they are facing opposition and challenges in their lives. Sapiik is offered to 112 young people in four cities in Greenland.
The station of Grytviken, South Georgia, is a veritable time capsule and, it is hoped that an original building from the whaling era, the Main Store, can be opened to the public. Visitors will be able to walk into this cavernous space and find tools used by the Grytviken community, as they were nearly a century ago. SGHT is working with GSGSSI to open the Main Store ground floor, so that visitors will have access to a greater understanding of what early 20th century working life was like here in one of the most remote places on earth.
With next generation molecular tools, marine researchers are more and more including molecular analysis in their data sets from analysis of microbes to large mammal tissues for species identification. These materials on board would facilitate the work of molecular marine researchers looking at DNA from multiple organisms and reduce the challenges associated with keeping samples frozen during transport on board Hurtigruten’s Expedition Ships.
Capo Nord – establishment of ensemble in the North Cape Region. Perleporten Kulturhus in Honningsvåg plan to create a professional ensemble of musicians to perform mainly for tourist and guests who visit the North Cape. Putting this into a group of professional musicians, it will provide an anticipated cultural opportunity in the local community.
