Reports confirm that a pilot whale hunt was conducted this morning July 23rd 2010 in which over 100 pilot whales were cruelly slaughtered at Tórshavn, the capital and largest town in the Faroe Islands (see footage and warning below).

Just four days ago on July 19th, a pod of 236 pilot whales were driven ashore and killed in the town of Klaksvik. 

There have now been eight recorded whale hunts this year with around 668 pilot whales and 21 Risso’s dolphins have been killed so far.

In 2009,  310 pilot whales;  174 whitesided dolphins; 3 Risso’s dolphins; 1 bottlenose dolphins and 2 northern bottlenose whales were slaughtered.  However, catch statistics overall still suggest that whaling is on the decline with recent kills at far lower levels than historic averages.

An average of around 2,500 pilot whales  have been driven ashore and brutally slaughtered each year in the Faroe Islands,  situated in the north-Atlantic midway between Scotland and Iceland.  For centuries the Faroese have hunted mostly pilot whales, driving entire schools into killing bays where they are speared or gaffed from boats, dragged ashore and butchered with knives.  Although the Islands are a dependency of Denmark the Faroes has its own Government and regulations governing the pilot whale hunt or “Grind” as it is known.

WARNING: THE FILM BELOW CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES OF ANIMAL CRUELTY!

 

The pilot whale hunt has origins dating back some 400 years when the meat and blubber provided a valuable source of animal protein in the Faroese diet and whale oil became a significant export as well as being used for cooking and lighting. Even the offal and skeleton was utilised for animal feed and fertiliser.  However, the hunt no longer provides essential protein for the Islanders, who enjoy a high standard of living derived from fisheries exports to Europe and the USA.  In fact, the Faroese economy is over 90% dependent on fisheries.

The Faroes  have said they want to kill whales commercially and it is no coincidence that Denmark, which also defends the ‘subsistence hunting of endangered whales in its other dependency of Greenland, is backing the resumption of commercial whaling at the International Whaling Commission (IWC).  Denmark’s position is held in open defiance of the rest of the European Union which is opposed to the commercial hunting of whales.

Pilot whales

Pilot whales are toothed whales around 20-25 feet in length and can weigh up to five tons. They are highly vocal, social animals swimming in groups called schools that can number in the hundreds. Pilot whales use echolocation to navigate and hunt for squid their principal prey. Often, entire schools of pilot whales will beach themselves and eventually die. It is not known whether such mass-stranding events are navigational errors by the whales or deliberate acts to help sick or injured group members at risk from drowning. Although still considered common pilot whales are at risk from marine pollution, over-fishing of squid and fish-stocks, entanglement in fishnets, and whaling.

Whale meat and public health

On 26 November 2008, the Chief Medical Officer in the Faroes, Dr Høgni Debes Joensen, together with Dr Pál Weihe of the Department of Public and Occupational Health, issued a joint press statement with a recommendation that the meat and blubber of pilot whales was no longer fit for human consumption because of the  high levels of mercury and other toxins that accumulate in the meat and organs of the whales and a comparatively high incidence of Parkinson’s disease in the Faroes.

The Faroes Health Authority had previously recommended that consumption of whale meat be limited to no more than twice a month, with women  advised to avoid it altogether if they plan to have children.  This is because of the toxic contaminants that accumulate in the whales bodies through the food chain. These contaminants include mercury in the flesh, liver and kidneys and polychlorinated-biphenyls (PCB’s) in the blubber. PCB’s are highly toxic industrial compounds linked to damage to the immune system and reproductive failure. Although subject to a voluntary manufacturing ban since 1977, some countries still produce them (see our environmental briefing section for further in information).

Campaign Whale has called upon the IWC to conduct urgent research into the serious health threats to people that eat whale products because they are increasingly contaminated with dangerous levels of  toxic pollutants that accumulate in the whales through the food chain. Recently the IWC passed a resolution calling for the Commission and the World Health Organisation to co-operate on the issue.

Campaign Whale objectives

Campaign Whale is opposed to the slaughter of whales and dolphins in the Faroe Islands because this whaling is unacceptably cruel, whale meat is no longer an important food source and in any case poses a serious health risk to the people that eat it.  The hunts are also a threat to whale and dolphin populations the size and status is unknown and are already under serious threat from climate change, toxic pollution, commercial over-fishing, entanglement in fishing-nets, ship strikes, habitat loss and disturbance from oil and gas extraction and surveys and chronic noise pollution including lethal military sonar.  Campaign Whale is calling for an end to all whaling in the Faroes as quickly as possible.

Take Action

1) Write to the Faroes’ Prime Minister and the Danish Embassy

The addresses are:
Prime Minister Kaj Leo Johannessen
Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands
Foeroya Landsstyri
Box 64, FR – 110
Torshavn
Faroe Islands.
Tel:  +298 351010
Fax: +298 351015
email: info@tinganes.fo

Sigmundur Ísfeld
Counsellor/Representative of the Faroes
55 Sloan Street
London SW1X 9SR
Email: sii@tinganes.fo
Tel.:  +44 (0) 20 7333 0227
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7333 6707
email:sii@tinganes.fo

Birger Riis-Jørgensen
Ambassador
Embassy of Denmark
55 Sloane Street
London
SW1X 9SR
Tel:  0207 333 0200
Email: lonaamb@um.dk

2) Contact retailers

Please also write to your local retailer asking them to boycott Faroese fish until whaling is stopped.

Please click here for the retailers contact details

3) Please also help our campaign by:

• Making a donation
• Become a Campaign Whale member
• Raising funds simply by searching the internet

Campaign Update

To read all the latest campaign updates please click here to visit the Campaign Whale News section.