The Faroe Islands Authorised The Killing Of 500 White-Sided Dolphins This Year. It Is A Long-Standing Tradition

Annual tradition in the Faroe Islands will claim the lives of 500 dolphins this year. This limit was set by the Faroese government, writes CNN.

The tradition of hunting dolphins has its roots around 800 AD, when the islands were populated by the Vikings.

Dolphin hunters kill with cuts to the neck and a subsequent cut to the spinal cord and carotid artery. This practice was condemned by the organization for the protection of animals.

In 2021, 1,428 white-sided dolphins were driven into the shallows on Skalabotnus beach. The Faroese government defends the act of killing by saying that the meat from the hunt provides "valuable food" for local communities.

"The meat and fat from every whaling hunt provides a large amount of valuable food that is distributed free of charge to local communities," a Faroese government spokesman said a year ago. Meat is also sometimes available in port supermarkets.

Marine conservation organization Sea Shepherd called the killing of more than 1,400 dolphins "a brutal and poorly managed massacre and the largest group hunt in the history of this territory".

A Sea Shepherd representative called the new 500 piece quota completely meaningless. According to him, there is no penalty for hunters exceeding this limit.

“This new quota is meaningless for the dolphins in the long term and was only hastily announced. This is an attempt to deceive politicians and the press," said Erichsen.

According to the Faroese government, there are approximately 80,000 white-sided dolphins in the seas that surround more than 18 islands belonging to the state. The established limit is therefore, according to the competent authorities, "within the limit of sustainability".