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Denmark Extends Paul Watson’s Detention, Awaiting Justice Ministry’s Final Call
Denmark Extends Captain Paul Watson's Detention As Judge Rules Watson Must BeDetained Until Justice Ministry’s Decision
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OPERATION BLOODY FJORDS
An average of over 1,100 dolphins slaughtered each year.
Our Faroe Islands Campaign
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#TRADIDIONCANCHANGE
Every year in the Faroe Islands, around 1,100 small cetaceans, primarily dolphins such as long-finned pilot whales and Atlantic white-sided dolphins, are massacred in drive hunts called the
‘grindadráp’
The grindadráp (or ‘grind’ as the hunts are commonly called) is opportunistic and can happen at any time on any one of the 26 designated killing bays around the islands.
The majority of the hunts occur between July and September when the weather is at its best.
A hunt is invariably authorised when a pod is spotted, unless the weather or sea conditions are too hazardous or there are too few participants. The grindadráp has
no season and no quota
The global community knows that nature and the environment is not ours to do with as we will
We need to conserve the species around us and restore our oceans,
not destroy and consume
simply because we can.
Create Change
UK businesses, driven by government trade agreements, are quietly overlooking the annual slaughter of thousands of dolphins in the Faroe Islands. This brutal practice, remains largely ignored for the sake of economic gain.
What remains hidden from the public is the fact that products labeled as ‘North Atlantic Fish’ or luxurious cruises through ‘Hidden Fjords’ are closely tied to this mass killing of marine mammals—a reality that the UK government and businesses would prefer to keep out of sight.
Whaling nations encourage this killing and refuse to take any notice of our calls to end this barbarism.
Shockingly, the UK government has failed to insist on a ban on the dolphin hunts as part of the conditions of its trade agreement.
Businesses across the UK buy fish caught or or farmed in the North Atlantic region or encourage tourism to the the Faroes, all of which props up an economy built on the back of dolphins slaughter.
Travelling far into the past,
The grindadráp was undertaken out of necessity for the islanders’ survival. But that is not the case today and nor has it been for decades. Now the grindadráp continues solely due to a misguided sense of national pride and yet #TraditionsCanChange so the arguments for this needless and inhumane hunt simply don’t make sense
Following direct action by activists, the Faroese introduced legislation to restrict the actions of campaigners
making intervention an arrestable offense.
Despite this, Captain Paul Watson Foundation (previously known as Sea Shepherd UK) has successfully ensured that volunteer crew are in place every year since 2017 to document, investigate and expose the truth behind the dolphin drives to the rest of the world, as part of the efforts to pressure the Faroese authorities to stop the grindadráp as part of #OpBloodyFjords
"Time after time we have documented events going wrong both at the grindadráp and at the many tagging attempts that are undertaken each year."
As the only NGO operating in Faroe over an extended period of time, experience has shown us that, whether for tagging or at a grindadráp, something going wrong during a dolphin hunt is normal.
Tagging is intrusive and inherently pose a risk to animals health and welfare and should therefore only be used when scientifically justified, not just because an animal is there.
Sometimes the errors that occur during tagging are small-scale… not enough to catch the attention of many – accidentally drilling in the wrong place when fitting a tag or failing to keep the pod together, resulting in animals being injured and stranded on rocks. Other times the errors are bigger, such as the incident in August 2023 that saw 8 long-finned pilot whales slaughtered after researchers were unable to safely drive the dolphins back out to sea due to weather conditions.
Tagging
In the chaos and confusion of the mass slaughter, it can be easy for breaches of the regulations (which require animals to be killed quickly to reduce the level of suffering) to occur… animals run over by boats, animals stabbed multiple times, animals that ‘come back to life’ because they were not paralysed by the spinal lance, the list goes on.
And then there are the bigger incidents… the grindadráp at Klaksvik in July 2010 that saw 228 pilot whales driven onto a beach large enough for less than half that number, compounded by a poor turn out from the local community which resulted in animals stranded and thrashing on the rocks and beaches for several hours before eventually being killed.
Or the grindadráp in Skálabotnur in September 2021 where a super pod of 1,428 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were driven in for several hours in what was possibly the biggest dolphin hunt ever undertaken. The botched grind saw animals suffering and waiting to be killed for far too long, even drawing condemnation within the Faroes.
Or the grindadráp in Trongisvágur in July 2023 with 156 long-finned pilot whales killed (plus six unborn calves) following the sighting of two pods. Driven in together over a period of two hours, half the pod stranded and were left on a sandbank whilst the remaining animals were killed. The boats then regrouped and returned to the stranded animals to drive them ashore for killing as well. The killing took a total of another two hours due to the low number of people waiting on the shoreline.
The grindadráp
Our volunteer crew take no pleasure in witnessing the semi-ritualistic killing of dolphins time and time again but we know the camera is our most powerful weapon in ensuring these killings cannot be hidden away. Please consider donating today and support our work to bring an end to whale and dolphin hunting.
TOGETHER WE CAN STOP THE GRIND
HELP US STOP THE
GRINDADRáP
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TO discover
The images we share are shocking – enough to make any person burst out with angry expletives BUT referring to the Faroese as ‘mercury-laden savages’ and other such insults will not bring the grindadráp to an end and it also alienates those who don't take part, those who agree with us that #TRADITIONCANCHANGE
Instead, please read our guide to the statements made and the actual facts so that you can help stop the grind through education and awareness…
They need y u!
Create Change
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