Faroese Whaling Controversy

[Arctic Daishi]

I originally posted this on another board I go to and it generated a very interesting discussion spanning a hundred posts and counting. So CFC, what do you think of whaling in the Faroe Islands?


Background
The fishing of long-finned pilot whales has been an established part of Faroese culture for over a thousand years. The practice is in line with both Faroese and international law, yet some groups (such as PETA) have criticized the Faroese tradition. Below I have outlined a few of the main arguments for and against allowing whaling to be continued in the Faroe Islands. What do you think, should whaling be banned in the Faroe Islands?


Arguments For Whaling

• The vast majority of the Faroese people support keeping whaling legal.
• Faroese whaling is purely non-commercial, instead being used as a source for food and cultural tradition.
• Faroese whaling only accounts for about 0.1% of the long-finned pilot whale population.
• Whaling has been part of Faroese culture for over a thousand years and is an important cultural practice.
• The whaling is perfectly legal under both Faroese and international law.
• Legal whaling is regulated by the Faroese government. Banning whaling will cause the practice to go underground, without regard for regulations.
• The Faroe Islands lack sufficient agricultural development to be self-sustaining without whaling.
• Whale drives are generally very short and cause the whales little or no suffering.
• Causing animals unnecessary suffering is against Faroese law, ensuring the whales are killed humanely.

Arguments Against Whaling

• Whaling may eventually cause long-finned pilot whales to become endangered.
• The Faroe Islands currently import most of their food, making the whale drives "no longer necessary."
• Occasionally whale drives go on longer than normal, resulting in the whales "being scared" for long periods of time.
• Human consumption of long-finned pilot whales may be unhealthy, due to mercury levels in the whale meat and blubber.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

3 of the arguments against whaling contradict other points. If it's only 0.1% of the population, how can they be endangered? If most of what they eat isn't whale, why is the mercury content in the whale meat a problem?

 

[History_Buff]

I'm OK with these guys whaling as per their cultural traditions, as long as it remains within the traditional hunting methods. By which I mean, they can use modern boats and weapons, but they should be hunting them 'for personal use' as it were, and not to sell the oil or meat overseas.

The minute it turns into an oil fishery, or Japanese research into how tasty whales are, they should be shut down.

 

[potatokiosk]

Sure, why not hunt them? They're just stupid whales.

 

[Thedrin]

The health risks of eating pilot whales seems to be a legitimate concern. Even the chief medical officers of the Faroe islands have called for an end to the practice due to contaminants in the dolphins' meat. (I'm not entirely sure what to make of the title of chief medical officer in the Faroes since there seems to be more than one, but another source lists the pair as the chief medical officer and the chief physician.)

According to the International Whaling Commission, there are approximately 750 000 pilot whales in the North Atlantic. This figure is from 1989 and it seems to be the figure that all articles that I can find are using. This blog post, which supports whaling in the Faroe Islands, says that some groups put the number as low as 600 000. The average annual catch of pilot whales in the Faroes from '91 to '00 was 921.2 and from '01 to '11 it was 635.6. Note that there are no figures given for 2008. The WDCS (Whale and Dolphin Conservation) says that this is because no whale hunts took place in 2008. I can't claim to be an expert in conservation, but in isolation these figures don't look large enough to me to be sufficiently threatening to the pilot whales' survival to justify a ban.

According to the NOAA (see "Threats") the biggest danger to the long finned pilot whale is the same thing that is threatening many marine species throughout the world: Bycatch. While I can appreciate that conservationists protesting the Faroe Islands have their hearts in the right place, I don't think that their focus is. It's not the biggest concern facing the long finned pilot whale.

Edit: there -> their

 

[Lord Baal]

I'm OK with these guys whaling as per their cultural traditions, as long as it remains within the traditional hunting methods. By which I mean, they can use modern boats and weapons, but they should be hunting them 'for personal use' as it were, and not to sell the oil or meat overseas.

The minute it turns into an oil fishery, or Japanese research into how tasty whales are, they should be shut down.

You're sure you're not in favour of this happening? It'd be good for the islands' economy.

In all seriousness, I fully agree. There is no particular reason why whales should be protected other than their endangered status, and if the Faroese aren't threatening that, what's the issue? My only concern in this is whether the quality of the whale-meat is a health concern, as SS-18 ICBM mentioned.

 

[Arwon]

Faroese whaling is a fairly different beast to Japanese whaling, really.

 

[Lord Baal]

Faroese whaling is a fairly different beast to Japanese whaling, really.

Of course. Not that Japanese whaling is even close to the way it's presented in Australian media. I'm far more concerned by Iceland's whaling endeavours. They seem far more large-scale and commercial than Japan's politically-motivated hunts.

 

[Akkon888]

Native Americans are allowed to distribute and use peyote for cultural reasons and without consequence. If use of such a non-beneficial drug is unrestricted, I don't see a case being made to restrict the cultural practice of whaling that has practical merit.

Also, like ICBM said, some of the bullet points do not add up. Why do the Faroe Islands "lack sufficient agricultural development to be self-sustaining without whaling" when they "import most of their food"? It seems that they are not able to sustain themselves regardless.

 

[Thedrin]

The Faroe Islands exports are worth $824 million. More than 80% is in the form of fish. Without knowing the price of a fish fillet from the Faroes, I'd guess that they do produce enough food to feed themselves but choose to consume cheaper imported food. As a few New Zealander's told me the last time I was over there, no one in New Zealand eats lamb.

 

[Lord Baal]

The Faroe Islands exports are worth $824 million. More than 80% is in the form of fish. Without knowing the price of a fish fillet from the Faroes, I'd guess that they do produce enough food to feed themselves but choose to consume cheaper imported food. As a few New Zealander's told me the last time I was over there, no one in New Zealand eats lamb.

Australia actually has quite a few problems, both economical and political, with making our domestically-produced food products - especially livestock - cheap enough to compete with imported products. Lamb is a big one; despite the fact that we produce a crap-ton of it, our higher cost-of-living means our farmers need to sell it for a higher rate than a farmer in another country, even though our lamb is of superior quality and the transport costs considerably less. I have no idea how much, if any, of these problems have been solved in the last few years.

Welcome to the global economy, I guess.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

All whaling should be illegal.

 

[Lord Baal]

All whaling should be illegal.

Why? Are you a vegan? Because I can understand that, but unless you're a vegan or a vegetarian, banning whaling while allowing the hunting and farming of other animals makes no sense.

 

[Thedrin]

Those opposed to the Faroe's hunting of the long fin pilot whale seem to be missing a trick. These creatures are dolphins.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Why? Are you a vegan? Because I can understand that, but unless you're a vegan or a vegetarian, banning whaling while allowing the hunting and farming of other animals makes no sense.

No, I'm not vegan. I am opposed to the killing of sentient beings.

 

[Angst]

Those opposed to the Faroe's hunting of the long fin pilot whale seem to be missing a trick. These creatures are dolphins.

Whether they're dolphins or not isn't too relevant to me.

I apologize if the Faroese are doing this wrongly, I'm happy if they do it rightly. They are a part of the Danish Empire after all.

 

[Thedrin]

Nor me, but dolphins are good at generating public sympathy. Criticising the Faroes for killing pilot whales isn't as damning to the average person in the west as criticising the Faroes for their annual dolphin cull.

 

[Angst]

I hate such rhethoric.

that you speak of, ofc, not that you practice

 

[Lord Baal]

No, I'm not vegan. I am opposed to the killing of sentient beings.

I assume, that as a fellow sci-fi fan, you really mean sapient, since "sentient" is almost always used incorrectly in sci-fi. What evidence is there that whales are sapient? Or dolphins? They're certainly very intelligent, but so are parrots and cuttlefish, and we feed the latter to the former, which we keep in cages for our amusement.

 

[emzie]

No, I'm not vegan. I am opposed to the killing of sentient beings.

A pilot whale isn't any smarter than a pig, and their hunting and slaughter is certainly magnitudes more humane than how we raise pigs.