Over 1,000 whales and dolphins have been driven ashore and brutally slaughtered with hooks and knives in the Faroe Islands in just the past 24 days.  On August 13th,  a staggering 450 dolphins were horrifically killed at Hvalba.

Every year around 700 pilot whales are killed for their meat and blubber in the Faroes.  The whaling continues even though Faroese Health officials have repeatedly warned that the whales and dolphins are so heavily contaminated with toxic pollutants like mercury and PCBs, they pose a serious health threat both to the whales and the people still eating them.  These pollutants have been directly linked to serious health problems  found in men, women and children in the Faroes.

Change is coming,  but tradition dies hard. Campaign Whale is working both within and outside of the Faroes to end this senseless slaughter as quickly as possible.

For more information about how you can help please click here

Campaign Whale has written to the Faroes’ Prime Minister, along with ten other anti-whaling organisations, calling for an end to the cruel slaughter of  whales and dolphins on public health, animal welfare and conservation grounds.

The letter follows another summer of whale hunts resulting in the driving and killing of 590 pilot whales, despite a repeat of health warnings,  first issued by Faroese Health leaders in 2008, that the meat is unsafe to eat because of toxic contaminants like mercury that concentrate in the whales through the food chain.

Accompanying the letter, the groups issued the following statement to the Faroese media: 

NGO Statement on Pilot whales killed in the Faroe Islands –September 6th, 2012

The undersigned environmental and animal welfare organisations are very concerned about the high number of pilot whales killed in the Faroe Islands this year. Through to 24th August, 590 long-finned pilot whales have been killed on the Islands in 2012. Since the beginning of 2010,  2,423 pilot whales have been killed on the Islands raising serious human health, animal welfare and conservation concerns.

Consumption and Health Risk

Meat and blubber from the animals are distributed and sold in the Faroe Islands for human consumption, despite evidence of high levels of mercury and PCBs. Long-term research undertaken by Danish and Faroese scientists has revealed that consumption of pilot whale meat and blubber has detrimental effects on the development of foetal nervous and immune systems, and increases the risk of Parkinson’s disease, hypertension, arteriosclerosis of the carotid arteries in adults, and Type II diabetes.

The Faroe Islands’ Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientist have jointly issued health warnings several times. In an open letter to the Government on 8th August 2008, they stated that pilot whale should no longer be used for human consumption. This conclusion has recently been repeated in the review article published in 2012, “Dietary recommendationsregarding pilot whale meat and blubber in the Faroe Islands” by Pál Weihe and Høgni Debes Joensen, based on additional long-term cohort studies.

Scientific agreement

There is broad scientific agreement on the strong link between mercury in cetacean (whale, dolphin and porpoise) products and a variety of human diseases and medical conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, arteriosclerosis, immune suppression and hypertension. Threats to children include autism, Asperger’s Syndrome and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

In July 2012 at its Annual Meeting, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) adopted by consensus a resolution proposed by the EU IWC members including Denmark, requesting increased cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO). It encourages the WHO to review scientific publications regarding contaminants in cetacean products and provide updated advice for consumers. It also urges governments to remain vigilant in responsibly
informing consumers of health effects associated with the consumption of polluted cetacean products, and taking steps to counter any negative effects based on rigorous scientific advice and clear risk assessments.

Unfortunately the Government of the Faroe Islands has failed so far to adopt the recommendations of its own scientific experts to end the consumption of pilot whale, and instead supports continuation of the grinds and the consumption of these polluted whale products. Indeed, if all the meat and blubber of the 590 whales killed this year is consumed, it will by far exceed the Faroese Government’s June 2011 guidelines that recommend a maximum of one meal per month.

Animal Welfare and Conservation

Pilot whales tend to migrate to the calmer waters around the Faroe Islands to give birth from April to July. Pilot whale hunts frequently occur during the breeding season despite there being agreement internationally that hunting during breeding seasons should be avoided to allow for stable populations to endure. For this reason targeting animals accompanied by calves is expressly forbidden by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) – the world’s expert cetacean management authority. The status of cetaceans that occur around the Faroe Islands is uncertain in many cases and the impacts of the hunts which take entire family groups is also unknown. Pilot whales are protected under European law, which prohibits takes as a primary conservation measure. Many of the pilot whales that occur in Faroese waters also travel to EU waters.

The methods used to kill whales in the Faroe Islands have been subject to international criticism for decades. In the hunts, known as ‘grinds’, large family groups of whales are driven by boats into a bay where they are crudely killed with hooks and knives. Pilot whales are known for their highly social behaviours and close-knit family groups. Although Faroese authorities claim killing methods have improved, there is no documentary evidence to prove this. The grinds are a lengthy process that also involves extreme distress for the whales associated with the chasing, separation of social groups, and individual whales experiencing close family members being slaughtered. This is in addition to the inherent cruelty associated with the killing methods.

In conclusion and in consideration of the serious concerns raised, the undersigned organisations urge the Faroese people to bring a permanent end to the hunting of pilot whales and other cetacean species for the benefit of human health, animal welfare and conservation.

On Thursday 9th August, a pod of 40 pilot whales was driven ashore at Hvannasund in the Faroe Islands. The terrified whales then suffered blunt hooks thrust into their blowholes so they could be dragged into the shallows. There, men with knives cut down through the flesh and blubber semi-decapitating the whales in order to sever the major arteries to ensure the animals would bleed to death. The previous day, 196 whales were killed in Vagur, making a grim total of over 230 whales killed that week alone, with a total of 467 pilot whales killed by the Faroese this year.

A staggering 2,306 pilot whales and 210 dolphins have been driven ashore and cruelly slaughtered since 2008 alone. Incredibly, that same year, Faroese health leaders warned that the whale meat, blubber and organs were not safe to eat because of the mercury and other toxic contaminants that accumulate in the whales through the oceanic food chain.

In June this year, Campaign Whale returned to the Faroe Islands to attend a conference on ‘Hunting and Protecting of Marine Mammals – A clash of Cultures?’ in the capital of Torshavn on the 4th and 5th of June. While that conference was underway 125 pilot whales were driven ashore and slaughtered on a neighbouring island just a few miles away. Some graphic film footage taken after this hunt can be seen below:

Campaign Whale is working to end Faroes whaling which is a cruel tradition and an unfolding tragedy for both the whales and the people that eat them.

For more information, including how you can help our campaign, please click here

Campaign Whale is in Panama City attending the 64th annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). On the agenda for what is always an extremely difficult week are proposals to create a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic, to allow ‘small-type’ commercial whaling for minke whales in Japan’s coastal waters and controversial subsistence whaling quotas for indigenous people in the USA, Russia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, and Greenland.

In particular, Campaign Whale is very concerned about the creeping commercialisation of what is supposed to be whaling for food in remote communities and not whaling for profit, as well as the appalling cruelty inflicted upon the hundreds of whales targeted in these hunts.

Campaign Whale’s lobbying priorities include supporting a proposal to focus more scientific research on the pollution threat to whales and the people that eat them. We also want further funding for research and the development of recovery plans for highly endangered species of small whales, dolphins and porpoises.

Monday 2nd July 2012

Day one of IWC 64 has not been a good one for anyone who cares about whales. A proposal to create a whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic, a highly-prized goal for the vast majority of anti-whaling countries, was defeated in a vote today.

This very same proposal brought last year’s meeting in Jersey to a standstill when Japan and their pro-whaling allies staged a walk-out in order to prevent a vote on the sanctuary from taking place. A vote then may well have secured the 3/4 majority needed for the sanctuary to be adopted. Today the whalers and their allies had sufficient numbers on their side to block it.

Unfortunately, Japan has ‘encouraged’ many small island states and lesser developed countries to join the IWC in recent years and vote in favour of whaling. With the whalers now able to block important conservation initiatives like the sanctuary, making real progress at the IWC has become increasingly difficult. However, there are still many important issues yet to be considered this week and Campaign Whale is determined to win all we can for the whales this week. Further reports will follow as events unfold here in Panama.

Tuesday 3rd July 2012

Today promised fireworks as the highly contentious business of renewing ‘aboriginal subsistence whaling’ quotas for the next six years was on the IWC’s agenda. These quotas, involve the cruel slaughter of several hundred whales each year, and are only meant to be awarded to remote communities that depend on hunting whales for food. However, the growing commercialisation of this whaling has led to angry confrontations, as anti-whaling members have increasingly raised concerns whether some quotas are still justifiably exempt from the IWC’s commercial whaling ban agreed in 1986.

Anticipating problems, the United States resorted to a procedural manoeuvre by combining their quota request with that of the Russian Federation and St Vincent & the Grenadines. This made it harder for countries to vote against the package of quotas which included controversial quotas of gray whales for the Makah tribe of Washington State, who have not hunted whales   for some 90 years, and humpback whales for St Vincent in the Caribbean. The whalers of St Vincent kill humpback whales despite failing to provide essential data on their hunt to the IWC for many years. These hunts are all the more shocking because the whalers often target mothers with calves, a practice forbidden under IWC rules.

If all this weren’t bad enough, Denmark submitted a massive quota request for its Greenlandic whalers for 1,140 minkes, 114 fin, 12 bowhead and 60 humpback whales over the next six years. The Greenland request was repeatedly challenged and the issue has now been deferred until later in the week.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the US joint proposal. Despite attempts to separate the three quota requests in order that each could be judged on its own merits, there was not enough support for this. The proposal was passed by a large margin of votes, including the support of all the EU Member States attending this meeting. In the end, the US had got its way and both the Makah and St Vincent’s whalers were awarded quotas that are quite simply unjustified.

One highlight of an otherwise distressing day was the announcement by Italy, the Netherlands and the UK of sizeable donations to the IWC’s Voluntary Fund for Small Cetacean Conservation Research of around £35,000. The whalers refuse to accept the IWC has jurisdiction over the many species of smaller whales, dolphins and porpoises. They face mounting threats to their survival, especially from toxic pollution and entanglement in fishing nets, and are hunted in huge numbers in Japan, the Faroe Islands and elsewhere around the world. Campaign Whale is proud of its work in helping persuade governments to support this vital research that will help save critically endangered species.

More news from Campaign Whale in Panama will follow.

Wednesday 4th July 2012

Day three of the IWC meeting here in Panama has been dominated by two issues: Firstly, the annual ritual of Japan tabling a proposal requesting an ‘emergency relief’ quota of whales to allow for the resumption of ‘small-type’ whaling in its coastal waters.  Once again, the ‘hardship’ and ‘distress’ caused to their coastal communities was expressed, deprived as they have been of whaling for 25 years,  thanks to the IWC ban on commercial whaling. What they didn’t mention of course, is the hundreds of whales killed in the north-Pacific every year by Japan’s bogus ‘scientific’ whaling programme, on top of the hundreds of whales killed in Antarctica for ‘research. This whaling has created thousands of tons of frozen whale meat that remains unsold. This is all in addition to the tens of thousands of small whales, dolphins and porpoises cruelly hunted in Japan’s coastal waters that are not protected by the whaling ban. With all this whaling, creating mountains of whale meat that is not being eaten, it’s difficult to see where the hardship or distress is being felt. Although Japan’s request has been left open for further discussion later this week, it is very unlikely to be approved, and rightly so, having been rejected by the IWC many, many times before.

Secondly, after some discussion and criticism of Iceland and Norway’s ongoing commercial whaling in defiance of the IWC ban, both countries killing over 700 minke whales between them each year, the discussions  were disrupted by the sensational announcement by Korea that they intend to start scientific research whaling. Killing whales for research is permitted under the Convention, but it is a legal loophole that has been much abused by the whaling nations since the whaling ban was introduced. Japan, for example, has killed tens of thousands of whales for ‘research’ during the commercial whaling ban. The situation is made even worse by the fact that any species can be killed, and in any numbers, including from endangered populations and species. Sadly, until now, only Japan has persisted with scientific whaling, which they conduct each year in the north-Pacific and Antarctic oceans.  Although these cynical abuses of IWC rules are regularly condemned, the whalers fear little action will be taken against them. If world governments were serious about ending whaling, then economic and political sanctions could be taken against them, sanctions that would end whaling virtually overnight.

More from Campaign Whale in Panama tomorrow

Thursday 5th July

Day four of this year’s IWC meeting was a very good one for the whales. Yesterday, Campaign Whale hosted a meeting of concerned organizations to discuss how best to help two of the most critically endangered dolphins and porpoises at this meeting: the Vaquita and Maui dolphin. Unfortunately, the whaling countries and their allies refuse to accept IWC jurisdiction over small cetaceans as they are collectively known, and tens of thousands of small whales, dolphins and porpoises are hunted and killed in Japan, the Faroe Islands and elsewhere around the world each year, with hundreds of thousands more ensnared and drowned in fishing gear.

The Vaquita is a tiny porpoise that lives in the Gulf of California. There are no more than 200 left and even these are seriously threatened by entanglement in fishing gear. Off New Zealand, the Maui dolphin has been reduced to just 55 animals, and every dolphin that dies in a fishermen’s net takes this critically endangered one step closer to oblivion.

Campaign Whale is determined once again to do all we can to help these sadly endangered animals. Last year, several countries donated a total of £60,000 to support the IWC Voluntary Fund for Small Cetacean Conservation Research, and this year a further £35,000 was donated. Campaign Whale rallied other campaign organizations to raise a further £11,000, after raising over £10,000 at last year’s meeting. By encouraging and continuing this momentum, we are focusing global attention on the plight of critically endangered dolphins and porpoises, and so increasing pressure on governments and the IWC to help save the Vaquita and Maui dolphins.

Back to the meeting, Denmark’s massive quota request for Greenland returns to the floor. They are not prepared to compromise and the proposal is put to a vote where it fails to reach the ¾ majority it needs. While some groups view this as a victory, we are not so sure. The whalers will take this opportunity to portray the IWC as a dysfunctional body that cannot even agree to set quotas for indigenous peoples that rely on whales for food. Certainly, Greenland’s growing commercialization of its whaling does not meet IWC criteria for subsistence whaling, but this decision will be used as propaganda by Japan and its whaling allies once again as further proof that the Convention is no longer fit for purpose.

Also today, an important resolution was passed by consensus calling on the IWC to liaise with the World Health Organisation in researching and reducing the contaminant threat to whales and dolphins. It also called on governments to reduce toxic pollution of the marine nvironment and to responsibly inform consumers of the potential health threats from eating contaminated whale and dolphin products. Campaign Whale helped produce a lobbying document on this issue and we were delighted this resolution was adopted. Scientists have established strong links between mercury and other toxic contamination of whale and dolphin products and a variety of human diseases and medical conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, arteriosclerosis, immune system suppression and hypertension. Threats to children include autism, Asperger’s Syndrome and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Welcoming this resolution in a joint press release Andy Ottaway of Campaign Whale said, “It’s time that urgent international attention is focused on this unfolding tragedy for whales and dolphins and the people that eat them”.

News from the final day of the IWC in Panama to follow

Friday 6th July

Today Campaign Whale made history! For the first time in over 20 years of attending IWC meetings we were able to directly address the meeting. We seized this opportunity to remind the IWC and its Member Governments of their collective and individual responsibilities to save critically endangered species such as the Vaquita and Maui dolphins from extinction. We also reached agreement with the Chairs of the Small Cetacean and Conservation Committees to find a way to develop conservation plans to help endangered species of small whales, dolphins and porpoises. We are delighted to have achieved so much for these sadly threatened species and we are determined to save them and the many other threatened dolphins from extinction.

Finally, Japan’s annual demand that the IWC provide an ‘emergency relief’ quota of whales for their long-suffering coastal whaling communities was withdrawn through lack of support. Like so many other IWC meetings, IWC Panama proved to be a bittersweet experience of good and bad. However, the growing drive to change this once exclusive whaler’s club in to a modern conservation forum for the protection of all whales, dolphins and porpoises is becoming unstoppable.  We would like to thank our supporters and those other organizations whose tireless efforts are making that day grow ever closer.