Pilot Whale Hunting In The Faroe Islands: Massacre Or Local Tradition?

Faroese people hunt whales by herding them toward the coast. (Wikimedia Commons/EileenSanda)

JAKARTA - World conservationists are again against the practice of whaling to the Faroe Islands, after ten whales died in the first hunt of 2021 some time ago.

They say the tiny island territory is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of long-finned pilot whales each year as a food source for the island's inhabitants.

In this way, groups of whales are pushed to the island's shores from the North Atlantic all year round to be killed and distributed among the resident communities of the Faroe Islands.

A post on Facebook titled 'The Sick Islands' by marine welfare campaigner Blue Planet Society, asked followers to sign a petition against the practice. Nearly half a million people have signed up since its launch.

"To put this barbaric and outmoded behavior in context, the last pilot whaling in Shetland took place in 1928 and Orkney in 1889," the post explains, comparing the island to its nearby Scotland.

Whaling in the Faroe Islands. (Wikimedia Commons/Erik Christensen)

The island sits between Japan, Norway and Iceland as the main cause of the killing of nearly 40,000 large whales since commercial whaling was banned in 1986.

Those who were captivated by the Netflix documentary Seaspiracy earlier this year will be familiar with the issues raised by the Blue Planet Society. Similarly, the island also made headlines in 2019 when hundreds of whales were killed in one fell swoop, causing the surrounding sea to turn blood red.

Blue Planet has also spent time phoning media outlets, for failing to highlight the island's history with whaling through its tourism-focused article, which was shared in light of the lifting of COVID-19 travel restrictions.

The inhabitants of the Faroe Islands are known to have long been able to exploit legal loopholes by citing their hunting rooted in traditions dating back to the 16th century.

There is a time when this argument will hold, the meat of one native whale in the island's waters could feed several families.

But People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) argue that eating whale meat on the island as a 'tradition' is long gone. Only 17 percent of islanders said they still regularly eat pilot whale meat and blubber.

Health problems have also increased, due to the potentially high concentration of mercury in meat. This is similar to mass consumption of salmon, which can also be toxic to humans.

Whaling in the Faroe Islands. (Wikimedia Commons/Arnø)

Marine animals that are larger and have lived longer are scientifically more likely to accumulate high amounts of mercury. Recent studies have linked metal consumption by humans to conditions such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, autism, depression, and anxiety.

A visit to a Faroe tourism website, shows the defending pretext of whale hunting on the island.

"As has been the case for centuries, whaling still occurs in the Faroe Islands today. The Faroese have been eating the meat and blubber of pilot whales since they first settled on the island more than a thousand years ago," he wrote.

"Today, as in the past, whale drives are a community activity open to all, as well as being well organized at the community level and regulated by national legislation."

Records of all pilot whaling have been kept since 1584 and the practice is considered sustainable, as there are an estimated 778,000 whales in the eastern North Atlantic region. About 100,000 people swim near the Faroe Islands, and the Faroes hunt an average of 800 pilot whales each year.

"Meat and fat from the hunt are distributed evenly among those who have participated. Those who are too sick or weak to take part, are encouraged to register for their share, even if they do not take part in the hunt."