Dorete Bloch

{{short description|Faroese/Danish biologist}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = Dorete Bloch | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = TombstoneDanielsen.jpg | image_size = | alt = Tombstone with the names Hans Olavus Lisberg Danielsen and Dorete Bloch Danielsen and with the life data of both. | caption = Tombstone of Bloch and her husband | birth_date = {{birth date|1943|6|14|df=y}} | birth_place = Rungsted, Hoersholm, Denmark | death_date = {{death date and age|2015|2|28|1943|6|14|df=y}} | death_place = Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, Denmark | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = | workplaces = University of the Faroe Islands | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = Aarhus University<br>University of Lund | thesis_title = Pilot Whales in the North Atlantic: Age, Growth and Social Structure in Faroese Grinds of the Long-Finned Pilot Whale, Globicephala melas | thesis_url =  | thesis_year = 1994 | doctoral_advisor =  | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse = Ólávus Danielsen | partner =  | children = Jónas Bloch Danielsen, Jóannis Bloch Danielsen | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Dorete Bloch''', married name '''Dorete Bloch Danielsen''', (14 June 1943 in Rungsted – 28 February 2015 in Tórshavn) was a Danish zoologist, former director of {{lang|fo|Náttúrugripasavnið}} (the Faroes Natural History Museum), editor of ''Fróðskaparrit'' and author of numerous books on the animals and plants of the Faroe Islands. Bloch was born in Rungsted but moved to the Faroe Islands in 1974, where she remained for the rest of her life. She published studies on pilot whales, gaining a D.Phil in their study in 1991, covering aspects such as their migration patterns, diving behaviour and their importance on Faroese society.

==Career== Dorete Bloch was born in Rungsted and attended Viborg Katedralskole until 1962 and then Aarhus University. After graduating in 1970 with an MSc in zoology, she worked at the university's Wildlife Research Station at Kalø, where she conducted research into hares and mute swans.{{sfn|Bengtson|Buckland|Enckell|Fosaa|2010|page=13}}

On 15 October 1974 she moved to the Faroe Islands, where she settled for the rest of her life.{{sfn|Bengtson|Buckland|Enckell|Fosaa|2010|page=15}} She was appointed a lecturer at the University of the Faroe Islands.<ref name=samuelsen>{{cite web|url=http://portal.fo/andlat+dorete+bloch+farin.html|website=portal.fo|first=Ingi|last=Samuelsen|title=Andlát: Dorete Bloch farin|language=Faroese|date=1 March 2015|access-date=4 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150504015434/http://portal.fo/andlat+dorete+bloch+farin.html|archive-date=4 May 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1980, she was promoted to be the director of the zoology department. She was awarded a D.Phil. by the University of Lund in 1994 for her thesis ''Pilot Whales in the North Atlantic. Age, Growth and Social Structure in Faroese Grinds of the Long-Finned Pilot Whale, Globicephala melas''. In 1995, she was made director of the Faroe Natural History Museum, a position she held until 2009.{{sfn|Boertmann|1994|page=9}} At the same time, from 2001, she was appointed as a professor of zoology at the University of the Faroe Islands.<ref name=Bengtsson>{{cite web|url=http://www.sydsvenskan.se/2015-03-31/dorete-bloch|website=Sydsvenskan|first1=Sven-Axel|last1=Bengtsson|first2=Pehr H|last2=Enckell|first3=Sten|last3=Rundgren|title=Dorete Bloch|date=31 March 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170205101123/http://www.sydsvenskan.se/2015-03-31/dorete-bloch|archive-date=5 February 2017}}</ref> She was also editor of the journal ''Fróðskaparrit''.{{sfn|Boertmann|1994|page=9}}

Bloch's research has involved various Faroese animals, including bottlenose whales and mountain hares.{{sfn|Bengtson|Buckland|Enckell|Fosaa|2010|page=14}} Much of her work has been into pilot whales, covering aspects of their behaviour and their impact on Faroese society.<ref>{{citation|last=Misfeldt|first=Mai|title=On Pernille Kløvedal Helweg's Field Printing Practice: From the exhibition Whales & Wild Animal's Field Prints at Vejle Kunstmuseum, Fuglsang Kunstmuseum, Kunsten in Aarhus, Stavanger Kunstmuseum and at Nordic House and Steinprent in Thorshavn, 2011-2012|website=PernilleKløvedalHelweg.dk|url= https://www.pernillekloevedalhelweg.dk/en/cataloguetexts/|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211017005608/https://www.pernillekloevedalhelweg.dk/en/cataloguetexts/|archive-date=17 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bloch|first1=Dorete|first2=Mads Peter|last2=Heide-Jørgensen|first3=Eyðfinnur|last3=Stefansson|first4=Bjarni|last4=Mikkelsen|first5=Lise Helen|last5=Ofstad|first6=Rune|last6=Dietz|first7=Liselotte Wesley|last7=Andersen|title=Short-term movements of long-finned pilot whales Globicephala melas around the Faroe Islands|journal=Wildlife Biology|volume=9|number=1|year=2003|page=47|doi=10.2981/wlb.2003.007 |s2cid=90529335 }}</ref> Between 2000 and 2004, she was part of a project using tagged long-finned pilot whales to track their movements via satellite.{{sfn|Joensen|2009|pages=32}}

She has assisted in studies of birds of the islands and was bird consultant for Vágar Airport.{{sfn|Boertmann|1994|page=9}}{{sfn|Bengtson|Buckland|Enckell|Fosaa|2010|page=13}} Her interests are not restricted to animals. Amongst her publications are also descriptions of the flowers of the Faroe Islands, which was called a "labour of love". Her writing was described as "lively and imaginative.{{sfn|Brønner|1982|page=81}}

==Private life== Bloch married Ólávus Danielsen (1927–1997). They lived in Velbastaður, in Tórshavn Municipality and had one son, Jónas Bloch Danielsen, a musician who established Studio Bloch on the harbour in Tórshavn, the first recording studio in the islands.{{sfn|Cannady|2021|page=60}} Bloch died on 28 February 2015.<ref>{{cite report|title=NAMMCO Annual Report 2015:Report of the 22nd Scientific Committee Meeting|url=https://nammco.no/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/scientific-committee-22-2015-report.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131055211/https://nammco.no/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/scientific-committee-22-2015-report.pdf|archive-date=31 January 2020|page=183}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography== Bloch wrote extensively on pilot whaling in the Faroes,{{sfn|Joensen|2009|pages=257}} Her works include: * Bloch, D. and Zachariassen, M. The Skinn Values of Faroe Island Pilot Whales: An Evaluation and Corrective Proposal. ''North Atlantic Studies'' 1, No. 1. * Bloch, D. 1992. Studies of the long-finned pilot whale in the Faroe Islands, 1976–1986. ''Fróðskaparrit'' 38-39: 35–61. * Bloch, D. 2007. ''Pilot whales and the whale drive in the Faroes''. Tórshavn: H.N. Jacobsens. * Desportes, G., Andersen, L.W., Aspholm, P.E., Bloch, D. and Mouritsen, R. 1992. A note about a male-only pilot whale school observed in the Faroe Islands. ''Fróðskaparrit'' 40: 31–37. * Desportes, G., Bloch, D., Andersen, L.W. and Mouritsen, R. 1992. The international research programme on the ecology and status of the long-finned pilot whale off the Faroe Islands: Presentation, results and references. ''Fróðskaparrit'' 40: 9–29. * Heide‐Jørgensen, M.P., Bloch, D., Stefansson, E., Mikkelsen, B., Helen Ofstad, L. and Dietz, R., 2002. Diving behaviour of long‐finned pilot whales Globicephala melas around the Faroe Islands. ''Wildlife Biology'', 8(4): 307–313.

Other publications include: * Bloch, D., Jákupsson, B. and Arnskov, S. 1980. ''Faroese flowers''. Tórshavn: Føroya Fróðskaparfelag * Bloch, D., Aldenius, J. and Lindell, T. 1982. List to K. Hansen: Vascular Plants in the Faroes. ''Fróðskaparrit'' 30: 119–121. * Bloch, D. and Sørensen, S. 1983. The autumn migration at Akraberg, Faroe Islands, 1982. ''Fróðskaparrit'' 31: 75–93. * Bloch, D. and Sørensen, S. 1984. ''Yvirlit yvir Føroya fuglar''. Tórshavn: Føroya Skúlabókagrunnur. * Bloch, D. and Sørensen, S. 1988. ''Ferðafuglur''. Tórshavn: Føroya Lærarafelag. * Bloch, D. 1990. A note on the occurrence of land planarians in the Faroe Islands. ''Fróðskaparrit'' 38–39: 63–68. * Baagøe, H. and Bloch, D. 1993. Bats (Chiroptera) in the Faroe Islands. ''Fróðskaparrit'' 41: 83–88. * Bloch, D. and Mourier, H. 1993. Pests recorded in the Faroe Islands, 1986–1992. ''Fróðskaparrit'' 41: 69–82. * Kaaber, S., Gjelstrup, P., Bloch, D. and Jensen, J.-K. 1993. Invasion af admiralen (Vanessa atalanta L.) og andre sommerfugle på Færøerne i 1992. ''Fróðskaparrit'' 41: 125–149. * Bloch, D., Kristiansen, A. and Rasmussen, S. 1994 ''Jóannes í Króki 200 ár''. Tórshavn: Føroya Froðskaparfelag * Bloch, D., Jensen, J-K. and Olsen, B. 1996. ''Listi yvir fuglar sum eru sæddir í Føroyum''. Torshavn: Føroya Náttúrugripasavn * Bloch, D. and Enckell, P.H. (eds.). 1998 ''Proceedings from: Environmental change in North Atlantic Islands Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, 17–20 May 1998''. Tórshavn: Føroya Fróðskaparfelag * Bloch, D. and Fuglø, E. 1999. ''Villini súgdjór í Útnorðri'' Tórshavn: Føroya Skúlabókagrunnur. * Bloch, D. and Náttúrugripasavn, F. 2000 ''Færøernes grindefangst med en tilføjelse om døglingefangsten'' Tórshavn: Føroya Náttúrugripasavn * Bloch, D. and Sneli, J-A. 2005. ''The marine mollusca of the Faroes''. Tórshavn :Fróðskaparfelag Føroya

==Awards== * 1999 – ''Mentanarvirðisløn MA Jacobsen'' (M. A. Jacobsens Cultural Prize) in literature for the book ''Villini súgdjór í Útnorðri''.<ref name=samuelsen /> * 2012 – ''{{lang|fo|Miðlaheiðurslønin}}'' (Faroe Media Prize) for public dissemination.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gransking.fo/Default.aspx?pageid=2288&NewsItemID=14911|website=Gransking.fo|title=Dorete Bloch heiðrað fyri framúr góða almenna miðling|language=Faroese|date=1 October 2012|access-date=4 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924023509/http://www.gransking.fo/Default.aspx?pageid=2288&NewsItemID=14911|archive-date=24 September 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==References== ===Citations=== {{reflist}}

===Sources=== *{{cite book|last1=Bengtson|first1=S A|last2=Buckland|first2=P|last3=Enckell|first3=P H|last4=Fosaa|first4=A M|title=Dorete her Book: Being a Tribute to Dorete Bloch and to Faroese Nature|location=Tórshavn|publisher=Faroe University Press|year=2010|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=KpG8-6MmnwQC|isbn=978-9-99186-530-0}} *{{cite book|last=Boertmann|first=David|title=An Annotated Checklist to the Birds of Greenland|location=Copenhagen|publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press|year=1994|isbn=978-8-76351-225-1}} *{{cite journal|last=Brønner|first=Hedin|year=1982|title=Dorete Bloch," Faroese Flowers" (Book Review)|journal=Scandinavian Studies|volume=54|number=1|pages=80–81}} *{{cite book|last=Cannady|first=Kimberley|chapter=Wild Nights and the Cold North: Embracing Otherness in Icelandic and Faroese Music Festivals|editor-first=Christina|editor-last=Ballico|title=Geographically Isolated and Peripheral Music Scenes: Global Insights and Perspectives|location=Singapore|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2021|isbn= 978-9-81164-580-8|pages=55–74}} *{{cite book|last=Joensen|first=Jóan Pauli|title=Pilot Whaling in the Faroe Islands: History, Ethnography, Symbol|location=Tórshavn|publisher=Faroe University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-9-99186-525-6}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloch, Dorete}} Category:1943 births Category:2015 deaths Category:Danish science writers Category:Danish women writers Category:Danish zoologists Category:People from Hørsholm Municipality Category:Women zoologists