Faroe Islands mass dolphin slaughter casts shadow over custom

Every summer season within the Faroe Islands a whole bunch of pilot whales and dolphins are slaughtered in drive hunts generally known as the “grind” that residents defend as a long-held custom.

The hunt at all times sparks fierce criticism overseas, however by no means a lot as final week when a very bountiful catch noticed 1,428 dolphins massacred in a single day, elevating questions on the island itself a couple of apply that activists have lengthy deemed merciless.

Images of a whole bunch upon a whole bunch of dolphins lined up on the sand, a few of them hacked up by what seemed to be propellers, the water purple with blood, shocked a few of the staunchest supporters of the “grind” and raised concern within the archipelago’s essential fishing trade.

For the primary time, the native authorities of the autonomous Danish archipelago situated within the depths of the North Atlantic mentioned it might re-evaluate laws surrounding the killing of dolphins particularly, with out contemplating an outright ban on the custom.

“I had never seen anything like it before. This is the biggest catch in the Faroes,” Jens Mortan Rasmussen, one of many hunter-fishermen current on the scene within the village of Skala, advised AFP.

Open-air slaughterhouse

While used to criticism, he mentioned this time spherical it was “a little different”.

“Fish exporters are getting quite a lot of furious phone calls from their clients and the salmon industry has NOW mobilised against dolphin-hunting. It’s a first.”

The meat of pilot whales and dolphins is barely eaten by the fishermen themselves, however there’s concern that information of the bloodbath will hit the fame of an archipelago that depends significantly on exporting different fish together with salmon.

Traditionally, the Faroe Islands —which have a inhabitants of fifty,000—hunt pilot whales in a apply generally known as “grindadrap,” or the “grind.”

Hunters first encompass the whales with a large semi-circle of fishing boats after which drive them right into a bay to be beached and slaughtered by fishermen on the seaside.

Normally, round 600 pilot whales are hunted yearly on this method, whereas fewer dolphins additionally get caught.

Defending the hunt, the Faroese level to the abundance of whales, dolphins, and porpoises of their waters (over 100,000, or two per capita).

They see it as an open-air slaughterhouse that is not that completely different to the tens of millions of animals killed behind closed doorways all around the world, mentioned Vincent Kelner, the director of a documentary on the “grind”.

And it is of historic significance for the Faroe Islanders: with out this meat from the ocean, their folks would have disappeared.

‘Overwhelmed’

But nonetheless, on September 12, the magnitude of the catch within the giant fjord got here as a shock as fishermen focused a very large college of dolphins.

The sheer variety of the mammals that beached slowed down the slaughter which “lasted a lot longer than a normal grind”, mentioned Rasmussen.

“When the dolphins reach the beach, it’s very difficult to send them back to sea, they tend to always return to the beach.”

Kelner mentioned the fishermen had been “overwhelmed”.

“It hits their pride because it questions the professionalism they wanted to put in place,” he added.

While defending the apply as sustainable, Bardur a Steig Nielsen, the archipelago’s prime minister, mentioned Thursday the federal government would re-evaluate “dolphin hunts, and what part they should play in Faroese society.”

Critics say that the Faroese can now not put ahead the argument of sustenance when killing whales and dolphins.

“For such a hunt to take place in 2021 in a very wealthy European island community… with no need or use for such a vast quantity of contaminated meat is outrageous,” mentioned Rob Read, chief operating officer at marine conservation NGO Sea Shepherd, referring to excessive ranges of mercury in dolphin meat.

The NGO claims the hunt additionally broke a number of legal guidelines.

“The Grind foreman for the district was never informed and therefore never authorised the hunt,” it mentioned in an announcement.

It additionally claims that many members had no licence, “which is required in the Faroe Islands, since it involves specific training in how to quickly kill the pilot whales and dolphins.”

And “photos show many of the dolphins had been run over by motorboats, essentially hacked by propellers, which would have resulted in a slow and painful death.”

Faroese journalist Hallur av Rana mentioned that whereas a big majority of islanders defend the “grind” itself, 53 p.c are against killing dolphins.

© 2021 AFP