According to the Danish Second Television Station reported on July 10, local time, since the killing of 1423 dolphins in one day last year caused public anger, the Danish Faroe Islands government issued a statement on the same day, announcing that the number of white-edged dolphins caught in 2022 and 2023 is limited to 500 per year. The Faroe Islands government also stressed that the local tradition of killing marine animals would not be abolished, which was "an important complement to the livelihoods of the faroese islanders".
Screenshot of the statement from the official website of the Government of the Faroe Islands
Denmark's Faroe Islands are the last territory in Europe to allow the hunting of marine mammals, and annual hunting events called "Grindadráp" are held. This event is a long tradition of the Faroe Islands and has a history of more than 800 years.
During the event, Faroe Fishermen will circle in semi-circles with boats to round up dolphins or pilot whales, herding them into the shallow waters of the bay and forcing them to run aground. Whalers then slaughter on the spot with harpoons and even power tools, and the blood of marine animals stains the coastline red.
Sigmundur Ísfeld, the government representative of the Faroe Islands in Denmark, said in an interview with the Beijing News that the faroe islands tradition of hunting marine animals is a "very old and socially responsible way of sharing resources", although it looks very cruel, but in essence it is no different from slaughtering pigs and cattle in slaughterhouses, which is the way faroe islanders obtain meat resources.
Faroe Islanders handle whales and dolphins caught by the sea Source: The Independent
In September last year, there was a mass slaughter of white-sided dolphins during the "Grindadráp" hunt in the Faroe Islands of Denmark, and 1,423 white-edged dolphins were killed in one day, triggering a public outcry.
Nearly 1.3 million people around the world have signed petitions demanding that the Government of the Dominion of the Faroe Islands in Denmark abolish local traditions of hunting marine animals.
Animal rights defenders angrily protested that "this hunt may be the largest on record" and that while the dolphins are said to have been hunted for food, the Faroe Islands, with a population of about 53,000, are unlikely to handle so many dolphins, even a fraction of them.
Even the local residents of the Faroe Islands were shocked by the scale of the hunt for the white-sided dolphins. Olavur Sjurdarberg, president of the Faroe Islands Whalers Association, said the killing was excessive and "a big mistake".
According to data released by the Faroe Islands government, the annual hunting activities of "Grindadráp" are mainly whales, with an average of 600 pilot whales killed each year, and the number of white-edged dolphins killed is relatively small, 35 in 2020 and 10 in 2019.
In September 2021, the Faroe Islands killed 1423 white-edged dolphins in one day Photo source: The British newspaper The Independent
In February, the Faroe Islands government launched a review of the matter. On July 10, the Faroe Islands government issued a statement in response to the killing of 1,423 white-rimmed dolphins in one day last year.
"The fishing situation [in 2021] is not satisfactory, especially the number of dolphins killed is unusually high." "This catch is unlikely to be a long-term sustainable catch level," the statement reads. ”
The Faroe Islands government also said that according to the latest scientific estimates, the number of white-edged dolphins in the faroe islands is about 80,000. Based on this, the annual capture of about 825 white-rimmed dolphins will be "entirely within sustainable range". The Faroe Islands Government's Ministry of Fisheries has announced a temporary limit to 500 white-sided dolphins for 2022 and 2023.
As for the abolition of the tradition of hunting marine animals, the Faroe islands government has rejected the demands of animal conservationists, saying that the killing of pilot whales and white-edged dolphins by local residents is "sustainable use of marine resources".
"The policy and management measures of the Faroese Government will continue to be based on the rights and responsibilities of the Faroese people to the sustainable use of marine resources." The Faroe Islands government writes that the hunting of marine mammals is "an important complement to the livelihoods of Faroe islanders" and that "for centuries their economies and local food security have relied on the sustainable use of marine resources." ”
The Faroe Islands are awaiting an assessment from the Scientific Committee of the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Protection Commission (NAMMCO). The assessment is expected to be issued by 2024, after which the Autonomous Government of the Faroe Islands will reassess temporary killing limits and operations to drive and kill dolphins to ensure that the process is "as fast and efficient as possible".
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