Operation Bloody Fjords update: Covert patrols documenting the slaughter go completely undetected by the Faroese government

📁 Archive Document — Historical Record

This article was first published when our charity's original name/branding as 'Sea Shepherd UK' prior to our name change on 18th May 2023 following the removal of Captain Paul Watson from Sea Shepherd entities worldwide (with the exception of the UK, France and Brazil).

Captain Paul Watson remains a member of our Board, and our charity continues to uphold its founding principles of non-violent direct action marine conservation.

This article and its contents are the property of the 'Captain Paul Watson Foundation UK' and forms part of our 21 year history.

Learn more at paulwatsonfoundation.uk/new-name

The Captain Paul Watson Foundation UK can now reveal that as part of the ongoing Operation Bloody Fjords campaign, 10 weeks of covert land-based patrols were coordinated during July to early September this year in the Danish Faroe Islands. Report by campaign leader and Captain Paul Watson Foundation UK Director, Robert Read.

Dolphins slaughtered in the Syðrugøta grind on July 25th, 2017.

The patrols involved a total of 18 crew from the United Kingdom and France, with the aims of exposing the continued barbaric killing of dolphins and pilot whales by the Faroese, and gathering footage and photographs to look for potential breaches in Faroese animal welfare legislation. Centrally coordinated by the Paul Watson Foundation UK, the crews were based in six different Faroese towns covering 19 designated whaling bays. During the ten weeks, our volunteer crew — who used their personal vacation time to blend in with other tourists — managed to document nine separate grindadráp, which accounted for the deaths of 198 Atlantic white-sided dolphins and 436 pilot whales.

Children participating in the Hvannasund grind, August 29th, 2017.

Crew members also recorded evidence of the annual fulmar hunt, documented the public pilot whale butchering demonstration at Klaksvík, and — for the first time — the transportation of six pilot whales from a grindadráp at Hvannasund to Klaksvík and across the islands for processing and sale within the main supermarket in Tórshavn.

Over the next six days (November 9–14) we will be publishing the personal accounts and photographs submitted by six of the teams who witnessed grindadráp hunts and the butchering and sale of pilot whales and dolphins this summer:

• Team 1 (UK), based in Tórshavn, recorded the Hvannasund grindadráp of 5th July during which 70 long-finned pilot whales were killed.

• Team 2 (France), based in Tórshavn, recorded the Hvannasund grindadráp of 17th July where 191 long-finned pilot whales were killed. The team also recorded the butchering of these same pilot whales on 18th July at Klaksvík and tracked two trucks which transported 6 pilot whales all the way to a fish processing company in the capital Tórshavn, and the resulting sale of pilot whale meat and blubber in the largest Faroese supermarket less than 48 hours later.

• Team 3 (UK), based in Tórshavn, recorded the Syðrugøta dolphin hunt of 25th July where 16 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were killed and butchered in a nearby shed.

• Team 5 (UK), based in Saltangará, extensively recorded the Funningsfjørður dolphin hunt of 5th August where a large pod of 133 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were killed. The team also recorded the butchering of 39 long-finned pilot whales and 1 white-sided dolphin at Hvannasund on 6th August.

• Team 7 (UK), based in Tórshavn, recorded the grindadráp of 61 long-finned pilot whales on 18th August. The team also recorded the Skálabotnur dolphin hunt on 21st August where 48 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were killed, and documented the Klaksvík Harbour Open Day butchering of a single adult pilot whale which had been stored from a previous hunt specifically for the sickening public demonstration.

• Team 8 (UK), based in Klaksvík, recorded the Hvannasund grindadráp on 29th August of 46 long-finned pilot whales, as well as the Hvannasund fulmar hunt and the grindadráp at Bøur on 31st August of 29 long-finned pilot whales.

  
  

The covert operation has shown that just a small number of crew are able to document — with no restrictions — the horrifying scenes at Faroese grindadráp simply by blending in with other visiting tourists. The Paul Watson Foundation UK fully intends to continue such covert action and encourages volunteers to use their vacation time to travel to the Faroe Islands to help expose the barbaric grindadráp, and especially the hunting of other species such as the Atlantic white-sided dolphin, which is rarely if ever mentioned by the Faroese government or reported in the Faroese press.

A family of pilot whales slaughtered in the Bøur grind on August 31st.

2017 has proved to be one of the worst years for the grindadráp since the mid-1990s, with 1,203 pilot whales and 488 dolphins killed during 24 individual hunts in the Danish Faroe Islands so far. Please support Operation Bloody Fjords by donating to the campaign to help end this senseless slaughter.

Check back tomorrow for the first report and images from Team 1.

In the Hvannasund grindadráp on 29th August, 46 long-finned pilot whales were killed.

This one was a clean swap — the whole piece is Robert Read reporting on a campaign he led, and he's confirmed in your context as PWF UK COO, so the attribution flows naturally. Kept "UK" and "France" team labels since those refer to crew nationality, not organisational identity. Let me know if you want the next one.