Six Slaughters in Six Weeks: Sea shepherd UK (now known as the Paul Watson Foundation UK) continues the fight against the Grind
- Archive- Sea shepherd UK
- Jul 7, 2017
- 3 min read
š Archive Document ā 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
Wednesday's slaughter in the Faroe Islands brings the total for the year to 517 pilot whales and 61 white-sided dolphins killed within just over a six-week period.
On May 21st, 83 pilot whales were killed at BĆøur.
On June 16th, two grinds took place, with the massacre of 164 pilot whales at TĆ³rshavn and 8 white-sided dolphins in SkĆ”lafirĆ°i.
On June 26th, 157 pilot whales and 53 white-sided dolphins were killed at HvalvĆk.
On June 29th, after being driven by hunters in speed boats for 16 nautical miles over four hours, 43 exhausted pilot whales were killed by hand in the shallow waters at TjĆørnuvĆk.
On July 5th, 70 pilot whales, including four pregnant females, were killed on the beach at Hvannasund.
"Our objective is to expose this atrocity to the world. We cannot end the killing and we have never pretended that we could, but building up global awareness and working to construct a strong political and economic base will lead to economic, diplomatic and political pressure that will be effective." ā Captain Paul Watson
How the Fight Has Evolved
Over more than 30 years of opposition to the grind, campaigners have had ships seized and volunteers harassed, beaten, arrested, fined and deported. Not only have the Faroese officials changed the laws to protect the grind hunts and severely punish anyone who tries to protect the pilot whales and dolphins from being killed, but to enforce these laws and make arrests they have enlisted the assistance of Danish officials, including police, navy, and customs representatives. While the Faroe Islands themselves are not members of the European Union, Denmark is, and is therefore prohibited from engaging in any form of deliberate disturbance, capture, or killing of cetaceans.
As part of the Paul Watson Foundation UK's Operation Bloody FjordsĀ campaign to target the institutions supporting the grind, on May 8th Sea Shepherd Netherlands officially submitted a request to the European Commission to launch infringement proceedings against Denmark for facilitating the slaughter of pilot whales and other cetaceans in the Faroe Islands.
To make it clear to European Commission representatives that it is not only campaigners who oppose Denmark's participation in the Faroe Islands hunts, a petition signed by over 250,000 people from around the world was also submitted, calling for an end to this crude slaughter.
As of today, we're still waiting for the EC's decision. Although a detailed and thorough report has been submitted to support the infringement claim ā built over two years of compiling substantial evidence ā we will continue to document and gather additional proof of Denmark's illegal facilitation of the grind as long as the slaughters continue.
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