UK Signs Deal With Faroe Months After Dolphin Massacre: Conservations Call On European Nations to Cease Whaling Activities

Dolphin is still being practiced in the Faroe Islands until this day despite the backlash they get from conservationists and the international community. Last year, the government came under scrutiny after more than 1,400 dolphins were killed in one day, which was believed to be a record-breaker.

Now, conservationists are again mad as the United Kingdom (UK) signed a new deal with the Faroe Islands that will allow them to fish in Faroe territories. Wildlife protection lobbyists were disappointed with the new agreement, calling the UK government insensitive with the ecological effects of the whaling activities in whaling nations, such as the Faroe Islands.

UK and Faroe Islands Deal Met With Fury After the Dolphin Massacre Last Year

The UK government's decision to sign a new deal with the Faroe Islands was met with anger from the public, with some calling the ministers an "absolute disgrace" and "flying in the face of public opinion," The Independent reported. On Tuesday, fisheries minister Victoria Prentis said that the $7.4 million (£5.5 million) agreement would allow the UK ad Faroe vessels to fish in each other's waters.

This agreement came after increased fish demand as UK residents have increased their fish consumption because many have stopped eating meat in recent months and years. But public opinion was disappointed in this agreement, especially because of the dolphin massacre last September.

Dominic Dyer, a wildlife-protection lobbyist, launched a petition on the parliament to suspend the trade and that he is extremely dissatisfied with the agreement, noting that it only showed that the ministers were "out of touch" with the public views in the UK and Europe.

Largest Dolphin Slaughter in A Day

BBC News reported last September that 1,428 white-sided dolphins were driven into the largest fjord in the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory of Denmark. The grind or Grindadrap in Faroese is a tradition practiced for hundreds of years on the remote Faroe Islands in which they hunt sea mammals, primarily whales.

This is by far the largest number of dolphins ever killed in one day in the islands since 1940, which recorded 1,200 dolphins, while there were 900 in 1879, 856 in 1873, and 854 in 1938. On average, the Faroese government says that only about 600 pilot whales are caught each year, while white-sided dolphins are caught in lower numbers.

Conservation groups rounded on the hunters to condemn the killing. Olavur Sjurdarberg, the chairman of the Faroese Whalers Association, told the BBC that the killing was excessive and a big mistake. He said that they initially estimated the pod to only consist of 200 dolphins, and it was only when the killing process started that they found the pod's true size.

Defending the Hunt

The grind has always been met with criticisms, especially among conservationists. But in the Faroese defense, they pointed out that the island is abundant in whales, dolphins, and porpoises. They see the activity as an open-air slaughterhouse that is more sustainable than the other slaughterhouse of animals, Phys.org reported.

Steig Nielsen, the archipelago's prime minister, said that although this activity is defended as a sustainable way of hunting, the government is considering a re-evaluation of dolphin hunting and the role of Faroese society in such activity.

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