Speaking truth to power – my week giving whales a voice
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting is where governments come together to make decisions about whaling and whale conservation. Our team was at this year’s convention to speak up for the whales. Well, that was an eventful experience. The conference of the International Whaling Commission (IWC, the body that regulates whale hunts) in Slovenia at the…
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On the anniversary of the massacre of 1,423 dolphins, what’s changed?
One year ago today, 1,423 Atlantic white-sided dolphins, including mothers with calves and pregnant females, were chased for hours before being slaughtered on a beach in the Faroe Islands. Death would not have come quickly, and we can only imagine their fear and confusion as they listened to their pod mates’ cries and screams, and…
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We told them this would happen! Time to halt cruel whale experiments
An ill-conceived and so far ill-fated joint US/ Norwegian experiment to test minke whales’ reaction to noise (which I wrote about in May) has concluded its second season. Halfway through a four-year permit period, the project once again has nothing positive to show in research terms – although, sadly, there’s a stressed young whale as…
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The whale trappers are back with their cruel experiment
Anyone walking past my window might have heard my groan of disbelief at the news that, against all logic – rather like a bad Netflix series that has somehow been commissioned for a second season – the ‘minke whale trappers’ are back with their nets to have another go this summer! Starting tomorrow and despite…
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Is this the beginning of the end for whaling off Iceland?
I’m feeling cautiously optimistic after Iceland’s Fisheries Minister Svandís Svavarsdóttir wrote that there is little justification for authorising any further whaling when the current permits expire in 2023. Stating unequivocally that ‘it must be shown that it is economically justifiable to renew fishing rights’, Svandís reminds readers that whaling has damaged Iceland’s reputation and negatively…
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Understanding whale and dolphin hunts in the Faroe Islands – why change is not easy
Most people in my home country of the Faroe Islands would like to see an end to the kind of dolphin hunt that sparked an outcry in September last year. Yet a poll has shown that a staggering 83% are in favour of continuing the traditional grindadráp, the slaughter of pilot whales. This is not…
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