A Spark Ignites: The Beginning of Change in the Faroe Island?

Despite the death, there’s a glimmer of light in the Faroes

It’s been relentless in Faroes this year. The last week of August alone saw three grinds in one week and, in Fuglafjørður, this weekend saw over 285 long-finned pilot whales slaughtered in a long drawn out grindadráp that took too long even by Faroese standards.

Graffiti spotted on the streets of Tórshavn depicts a little girl holding a dolphin with its head severed

This is the ninth year that CPWF UK (previously as Sea Shepherd UK) has been present in the Faroes as part of Operation Bloody Fjords. Our aim has always been unwavering – to see the grindadráp ending for good – even when our tactics vary.

When faced with the cruelty and intensity of the slaughter it’s easy to lose hope, to wonder if your actions are actually making a difference, to question whether change will ever come in the Faroe Islands.

Yet there are glimmers of light at the end of this long dark tunnel of death. Admittedly the signs are small but they are there for those that care to look for them.

Palli, our honorary ambassador may be the only Faroese person openly out there documenting each slaughter but he’s not the only person who wants to see the grinds come to an end.

Faroese news has this year reported on a number of thefts of grindadráp equipment from stores around the islands – some of these items have later been found over the edge of cliffs but in at least one instance the missing equipment was mentioned as the reason a pod of pilot whales was not kept.

News report from in.fo, tools and a knifes have gone missing.

Stickers of an anti-grindadráp group have also made the press. Around the Faroe Isles the stickers of this group appear time and again – removed by officials and then replaced by what appears to be a group of Faroese youth. Those supporting the grind feel so threatened by these stickers that they’re trying to get the website taken down under anti-terrorism legislation!

The website Svartalambi.fo, created by locals for locals to collect signatures against the grindadráp, has recently become the centre of controversy.

On Facebook this summer Faroese folk have been talking about the growing number of people within their society who aren’t just neutral on the subject of the grind but actively against it.

And then there’s Torshavn - the capital of this archipelago just 200 miles from Scotland.

In many countries, it’s the capital city where change starts and spreads from… and there are early signs that it’s the same in Faroe.

Back on a rainy August morning, the small beach in Torshavn was packed with folk who’d turned out for the grindadráp. As the fire truck turned up with the hooks, ropes and spinal lances, they had to drive slowly through the waiting crowd. On the water, 52 boats were taking part to herd in just 31 long-finned pilot whales onto the waiting beach.

On the surface of things, this doesn’t look like a sign of hope but the reality is that over 40% of the Faroese population lives in Torshavn and the surrounding suburbs. And whilst the beach was busy, the numbers were swollen by children released from school for the event plus older folk who had come to watch the spectacle and reminisce. The number there to actively participate in no way reflected the size of the local population.

The butchery in the evening also attracted a good number of folk but similar numbers had been seen at the grind in the small village of Skalabotnur the day before. Certainly the number present didn’t reflect the number of people living within Torshavn.

Now fast forward a couple of weeks to this latest grind.

As a result, the mayor has faced insults on social media.

All the news websites have been in overdrive since the pod was first spotted – not just reporting on the grind itself, that’s fairly typical (even if the grind itself wasn’t typical) – but reporting on the refusal of Torshavn to take any of the dead dolphins.

Torshavn municipality were offered up to 100 of the animals for their own community, something you’d expect them to willingly accept as their own grind was so small, and yet the offer was declined. This has caused so much shock that everybody is keen to get their version of events into the press.

The district sheriff Jacob Vestergaard was first to break the news that himself and the mayor of Fuglafjørður had spoken to the mayor of Torshavn and the offer had been refused. Then came the update that the Torshavn mayor would release a statement shortly.

Next came the city council with their press statement: with the meat from the recent small grind plus some animals that had come to earlier in the summer, there was plenty of pilot whale meat for folk. They were at great pains to point out that they’re not saying no-one wants pilot whale meat anymore and encouraged folk to get their own from Fuglafjørður if they wanted it.

Finally, the mayor of Torshavn has chipped in – the municipality administration had advised her to decline the pilot whales because of the challenges of organising transportation on a Saturday evening.

Just a few years ago, the challenge of organising something on a Saturday night would not have been considered a barrier, nor would the cost of lorries on a Sunday be an issue. But now it is.

Whilst each press statement goes to some lengths to be supportive of the grindadráp, the bottom line remains: staff at Torshavn council couldn’t be bothered to give up their Saturday night for a few dead dolphins.

To be clear, some Torshavn residents have made their way north to collect some of the meat on offer. The majority have not. To paraphrase the comment of one local :

Younger generations are better informed and we are lucky that we have younger people taking action against this. Well done to the young mayor for opposing this human injustice.

Thank you for reading. Together, we are creating change. If you haven’t already, we invite you to sign the pledge to never consume products from the Faroe Islands : faroesfree.org