Born Free campaigns for end to Faroes Grind at European Parliament
We joined Sea Shepherd and the Stop the Grind campaign to call for an end to whale and dolphin hunts in the Faroe Islands.
Dominic Dyer speaking in the European Parliament
Dominic Dyer, Policy Advisor and Wildlife Advocate at Born Free, joined representatives from Sea Shepherd and the ‘Stop the Grind’ campaign at the European Parliament in Brussels on 18 November to call for an end the hunting of whales and dolphins in the Faroe Islands.
Every year in the Faroe Islands entire pods of pilot whales and dolphins are driven into the shallow bays and brutally killed, in a practice known as the Grindadrap, or ‘the Grind’.
The Faroese government maintain that the hunts are humane and result in rapid death. However, veterinary science, field observations and established welfare standards point to the opposite conclusion.
MEPs of all parties were provided with a detailed and graphic report on the case against the whale and dolphin hunts, during a briefing meeting in the European Parliament.
The report explained that the driving of whales and dolphins into shore subjects entire pods to prolonged pursuit, stress and injuries by boat propellers. The stranding on the shoreline inflicts prolonged physical trauma when the animals body weight is unsupported.
The killing method of inserting a spinal lance behind the blowhole to sever the spinal cord, cannot reliably achieve instant unconsciousness because of cetacean neuroanatomy and circulatory complexity.
TÓRSHAVN, FAROE ISLANDS – JULY 23, 2010: 108 Long-finned pilot whales are beached and killed. On Faroe Islands people have been eating the meat and blubber from pilot whales for centuries
Although pilot whale meat and blubber has been a traditional part of the Faroese diet for generations, the report explained that today consumption exceeds internationally recognised safety thresholds for mercury and cadmium and poses a serious health risk, particularly to pregnant women and young children.
Both Dominic Dyer from Born Free and Valentina Crast from Sea Shepherd took questions from MEPs in relation to the report and campaign activities to end the killing of whales and dolphins in the Faroe Islands, across Europe and in the United Kingdom. A key area of discussion was the need to focus on trade policy at both an EU and UK level, as a diplomatic tool to put pressure on the Faroese government to end the hunts.
MEPs agreed the hunts undermined international conservation efforts to protect marine mammals and created a double standard by which EU and UK citizens are prohibited from causing harm to whale and dolphins, yet fish products from a jurisdiction that condones such hunts are welcomed into EU and UK markets.
Born Free and Sea Shepherd ended the meeting by calling for stronger action and co-ordination by the EU and UK to end the whale and dolphin hunts.
Dominic Dyer said: “The EU and UK are the largest trading partners of the Faroe Islands and must listen to the vast majority of their citizens, who are overwhelmingly opposed to the cruel hunts. They should be willing to insert enforceable provisions into their trade agreements with the Faroe Islands to maintain strong protection for marine mammals and suspend the trade agreements unless the cruel whale and dolphin hunts come to a permanent end.”
Eighteen months after Sea Shepherd filed a detailed police report on a pilot whale hunt in which dozens of whales were left alive in shallow water in violation of Faroese law, that complaint has now led to formal police charges against the whalers for infringement of animal welfare rules. As a result, there will be no further whale and dolphin hunts in the Faroe islands until the case is resolved.
The report circulated to MEPs can be viewed below.