Tourist fined $1850 for ‘disturbing’ walrus while in Norway’s remote arctic islands

A tourist has been fined almost $2000 while in the remote Norway arctic islands after being photographed doing this one ‘disturbing’ act.

A tourist has been slapped with a hefty fine nearing $2000 after being photographed “disturbing” a resting Walrus in Norway.

The unidentified man, wearing yellow pants and a black hooded coat, can be seen standing footsteps away from the large animal residing in the remote Isfjorden on Svalbard’s Spitsbergen island.

According to reports, the man is from Poland, and was attempting to take a photograph of the tusked mammal as it took a rest on the ice.

Walrus’, especially males, can get to 1000kg in weight and become aggressive when threatened.

As a result of the environmental breach, the Governor of Svalbard issued a statement saying it had issued a fine of 12,500 kroner ($A1850).

The tourist was fined almost $2000 for getting too close to a walrus and disturbing the animal.

“The man went out on to an ice floe in the innermost part of Adventbukta and disturbed a walrus that was lying on the ice,” the Governor’s office said, as reported by the New Zealand Herald.

Local laws are in place to help protect animals such as the walrus that keep Svalbard home, with the Environmental Act stating that “all traffic on Svalbard must take place in a way that does not lead to unnecessary disturbance of wildlife”.

Walrus in natural Arctic habitat Spitsbergen Svalbard Norway Photo: iStock

According to the Norwegian Polar Institute, Isfjorden and its surrounding areas are “highly productive in biological terms”.

The local tourism board said that Svalbard was regarded as a “no man’s land”, or rather an every-man’s-land, until the Svalbard Treaty was signed in 1920.

Activities in the archipelago had chiefly been associated with exploiting the natural resources, but tourists, adventurers and scientists had also discovered it.

As a result, the Svalbard Act (1925) enabled the protection of ”animals, plants, natural

formations, landscapes and relics from the past”. Reindeer were protected in 1925, and the hunting of ptarmigan, geese and arctic foxes was regulated from 1928. Walrus were protected in 1952.

In 1932, two large areas were protected on account of their botanical assets. Polar bears were protected in Kong Karls Land in 1939.