More than 1400 Dolphins Died in the Faroe Islands in One Day

More than 1,400 white-sided dolphins died on a beach in the Faroe Islands on Sunday, Sept. 12. Supporters said the event is a traditional way of gathering food from nature and is part of their cultural identity. Sea Shepherd Global, an international ocean conservation group, denounced the killing as brutal.

Animal rights activists shared footage of a beach full of dolphins’ blood. The hunt of mammals, known as the grind, is an annual event in Faroe for food products. Hunters drive herds of mammals into shallow waters to butcher them and then give the dolphin meat to locals.

According to Hallur av Rana, a local TV journalist, 53% of people in Faroe Island disagree with the grind. However, CBS NEWS reported the grind was not illegal. 

“Faroe Islands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Culture told CBS News that the hunt was organized and carried out in accordance with the law,” CBS NEWS said. “The district administrator was informed about the pod sighting, and the whaling foreman organized and oversaw the hunt.”

When people in the Faroe Islands participate in the grind, they usually hunt pilot whales. BBC NEWS reported the Faroe government said they hunt a lower number of dolphins annually: 35 dolphins were killed in 2020 and 10 in 2019. They hunt about 600 pilot whales every year.

Although the grind is not illegal, BBC NEWS reported Bjarni Mikkelsen, a marine biologist from the Faroe Islands, said the killing on Sunday was unusual.

“He [Mikkelsen] said records showed that this was the largest number of dolphins ever killed on one day in the Faroe Island, an autonomous territory of Denmark,” BBC NEWS said. “He said the previous record was 1,200 in 1940. The next-largest catches were 900 in 1879, 856 in 1873, and 854 in 1938.”

Olavur Sjurdarberg, chairman of the Faroese Whalers Association, told BBC NEWS the number of dolphins killed was accidental. Sjurdargerg said hunters did not know the numbers of dolphins until they started killing. 

“It was a big mistake,” Sjurdarberg said. “When the pod was found, they estimated it to be only 200 dolphins.”

Many, including local people, said they wondered if the killing on Sunday was not in line with regulations. Sea Shepherd also said several people involved did not have required licenses to do the grind.

Although the grind is a tradition, Bárður á Steig Nielsen, Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands, stated a reconsideration of the grind. 

“We take this matter very seriously. Although these hunts are considered sustainable, we will be looking closely at the dolphin hunts, and what part they should play in Faroese society,” Nielsen said. “The government has decided to start an evaluation of the regulations on the catching of Atlantic white-sided dolphins.”

Japan has also received criticism for hunting whales, and hunting as a food culture has declined in Japan. Sazuka Saito, an Oklahoma Christian University student from Japan, said she remembers seeing whale meat and dolphin meat in a refrigerator at her grandparents’ house when she was little.

“My mother said that fried whale meat was a popular menu item for school lunches,” Saito said. “Now, we don’t eat them usually because cultures have changed and now we can easily get better meat from a grocery store.”

Saito does not either confirm or deny the hunting of whales and dolphins in some countries.

“There are several points of view for this problem, such as endangered species, but I think there is no problem from a view of food culture because it is just a cultural difference,” Saito said. “The issue is not simple, so we need to think about it with respect for other cultures and see the problem from a different perspective.”