Sea Shepherd Uk (now known as Captain Paul Watson Foundation UK) launches ‘Operation Bloody Fjords 2021’against the grindadrap hunts of the Faroe Islands

📁 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

📁 Archive Document — Historical Record This article was first published under our charity's original name and 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 form part of our 21-year history. Learn more at paulwatsonfoundation.uk/new-name

Operation Bloody Fjords 2021: Returning for a Sixth Year

Every year in the Faroe Islands, around 850 small cetaceans — primarily long-finned pilot whales and Atlantic white-sided dolphins — are cruelly killed in dolphin drive hunts called grindadráp in Faroese.

Captain Paul Watson and the organisation he founded, Sea Shepherd, were the first activist group in the Faroes in 1983, with further direct-action campaigns in 1985, 1986, 2000, 2011, 2014 and 2015. Then, due to vessel restrictions directed at Sea Shepherd, as well as new Faroese legislation preventing interventions from any activists against the grindadráp, our charity (at that time operating as Sea Shepherd UK) launched Operation Bloody Fjords in 2016 — with land-based crew being sent to the islands every year since to investigate, document, and expose the barbaric hunts to the world, to bring pressure on the Faroese to finally end the grindadráp.

Pilot whales killed at Hvannasund on 16th August 2018.

During 2020, our ground crew patrolled for over two months once Covid-19 travel restrictions were lifted.

Operation Bloody Fjords over recent years has generated many hundreds of international online and print news articles, as well as featuring in radio and TV programmes. However, the Danish media rarely reported on the dolphin killings around the Faroe Islands — so we reached out, together with Sea Shepherd Scandinavia, to respected and recognised Danish activists to join the campaign. We were very pleased to have nine Danish activists last year in the Faroe Islands working alongside our UK volunteers.

There were no grindadráp hunts while our crews patrolled in August and September (typically the peak months for grindadráp hunts). However, three grindadráp hunts did take place during 2020, despite Covid lockdowns or physical distancing restrictions in the Faroes — and pilot whales were also killed during a tagging exercise, and two small pods of Northern bottlenose whales were killed after they stranded. The total number of cetaceans killed in 2020 was 539 long-finned pilot whales, 35 Atlantic white-sided dolphins, and 11 Northern bottlenose whales, during the following:

• 18 long-finned pilot whales killed during a shambolic scientific tagging exercise on 6th June at Bøur.

• 252 long-finned pilot whales and 35 Atlantic white-sided dolphins killed in a grindadráp hunt on 15th July at Hvalba.

• 193 long-finned pilot whales killed in a grindadráp hunt on 30th July at Sandur.

• 6 Northern bottlenose whales killed on 17th August at Sandvík after they stranded.

• 5 Northern bottlenose whales killed after stranding, which our crew filmed and livestreamed online on 19th August at Hvalba.

• 66 long-finned pilot whales killed in a grindadráp hunt on 16th October at Hvalvík.

  
  

Our determination to end the grindadráp now continues with the 6th year of Operation Bloody Fjords — our 13th campaign season on the Faroe Islands, with more Danish and Scandinavian crew than ever before.

During 2020 (thanks especially to our Danish crew), we started to find new signs of support in the Faroe Islands — not only against the grindadráp hunts but also for other marine conservation campaigns around the world. This year, our volunteer crew will do everything we can to engage with and encourage more Faroese citizens to speak out against the hunts, and to support the wider work of ocean defence.

We also continue our campaign for international pressure on the Faroe Islands to end the pilot whale and dolphin hunts. We call upon both compassionate citizens and companies to boycott Faroese seafood products, for tourists to choose more whale- and dolphin-friendly destinations, and for cruise ship companies to reconsider any future visits to the islands until the grindadráp hunts are ended forever.

Grindadráp at Hvalvík of Atlantic white-sided dolphins on 11th September 2018.