whaling

contents and images are all from wikipedia.

and here are futher researches i've done on this. first, those are not dolphins, those are whales. it happens in FAROESE islands, a constituent country of the kingdom of denmark, along with denmark proper and greenland. whaling, or gindadrap as it is being called in faroe, is regulated by faroese authorities, but not by the international whaling commision. faroese do it for food as well as a part of their tradition.
the purpose
most faroese maintain that it is their right to catch pilot whales given that they have done so for centuries. the faroese whalers defend their actions before international organizations like greenpeace with three arguments: (1) that gindadrap is not a hunt as such, but a drap meaning a kill (that is, they do not regularyly take to sea just to hunt for pilot whales, but only kill those which are sighted swimming too close at land); (2) the pilot whale hunt does not exist for commercial reasons but for internal food distribution among households; (3) they do not believe the pilot whale to be an endangeered species.

according to american cetacean society (whale protectionist group), pilot whales are not considered endangered. the society cites that there are likely about 1 million long finned and at least 200,000 short finned pilot whales world wide.
but according to faroese legislation, it is permitted to hunt certain species of small cetaceans other than pilot whales. these include: bottlenose dolphin, atlantic whie-beaked dolphin; rumpbacked dolphin; atlantic while sided dolphin, and harbor porpoise.

(moi: aren't these some of the endangered species?)

the origin
records of drive hunts in the faroe islands date back to 1584. because of the harsh faroese climate, climate, grain and vegetables havenot been able to grow very well. thus, during the winter months, the faroe islanders' only option was to mostly eat salted or dried foods. this means that over the centuries, the pilot whale has been an important source of food and vitamins to the isolated population on the north atlantic archipelago.

the meat and blubber (thick vascularized fat under the skin) of the pilot whale has been an important part of the islanders staple diet. the blubber, has been highly valued both as food and for processing into oil, which was used for lightning and other purposes. parts of the skin of pilot whales were also used for ropes and lines, while stomachs were used as floats.

black meat of the pilot whalre and blubber (middle), together with dried fish and potatoes

the hunt
when a school of whales has been sighted, messengers are sent to spread the news amont the inhabitants of the island. boats then gather behind the whales and slowly drive them towards the authorized location. the location must be well-suited to the purpose of beaching whales. it is against the law to kill pilot whales at locations with inappropriate conditions.

once ashore, the pilot whale is killed by cutting the dorsal area (the back side of the animal) through the spinal cord with a special whaling knife, a grindaknivur. the grindaknivur is considered the safest and most effective equipment with which to kill the whales.

in 1985, the faroe islands outlawed the use of spears and harpoons in the hunt, as it considers these weapons to be unnecessarily cruel to animals.


the pilot whales that are not beached were often stabbed in the blubber with sharp hook called a gaff and then pulled ashore. but after allegations of animal cruelty, the faroese whales started using blunt gaffs to pull the whales ashore by their blowholes.

distribution
the catch is distributed in such a way that all the residents of the whaling district are given the same amount of the catch, regardless of whether or not they took part in the hunt.

the pilot whale meat and blubber is stored , prepared and eaten in the faroese households. this also means that whale meat is not available at the supermarkets or as part of their products for main export.

animal rights and health issues
aninal rights activities argue the the grindadrap is not only cruel, but in view of the ample food supply in today's faroes, completely unnecessary. additional argumentation is supplied by the faories ministry of health, which warns of excessive consumption of pilot whale meat, since it has been shown to contain high levels of mercry, PCBs and environmental poisons. in practice, this could only be safely consumed once a month by the faroese, a much smalled quantity compared with previous decades.

proponents of the hunt further argue that the pilot whale lives its whole life in liberty, in its natural habitat, the atlantic ocean. and then they will be whaled and dies in a few minutes. this is in contrast to many commonly held livestock such as cows, pigs and chickens, the meat from which one finds in modern supermarkets (moi: and of which most of us eat). these animals often live in captivity or confinement for their whole lives and are then subject to lenghty transportation and other stressful event before their final slaughter.
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