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14 July, 2023

Cruise line passengers witness mass whale slaughter in Faroe Islands

Ambassador Cruise Line has apologised to its passengers who saw the murder of 78 whales off the coast of the Faroe Islands.

The British cruise line was taking its guests to the port in the capital of Torshavn over the weekend where it seemed that the sea had turned red. What passengers were seeing was a traditional hunt, where locals gathered the whales before shooting them with hooks, according to The Washington Post.

Ambassador apologised to its guests who were shocked by what they’d witnessed.

“We were incredibly disappointed that this hunt occurred, particularly at a time when our ship was in port, and have offered our sincere apologies to all those onboard who may have witnessed this distressing occurrence,” the company said in a statement.

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Despite the apology and shocking nature of what the passengers had seen, the company was aware of the annual event that takes place in Torshavn. The CEO of Ambassador wrote a letter to Faroe’s prime minister in 2021 expressing his dismay over a dolphin hunt that occurred that year.

Ambassador partnered with Orca, a UK marine conservation group, the same year to spread anti-whaling and dolphin hunting awareness via a campaign.

Despite efforts to raise the issue with the Faroese government, the calls fell on deaf ears.

“While traditional hunts of this type have taken place for many years in the Faroe Islands to sustain local communities, we strongly object to this outdated practice, which we believe is now becoming commercial, with meats sold in local supermarkets,” the company stated.

The Visit Faroe Islands website says that the whaling practices undertaken in the area are sustainable, with only 800 pilot whales killed every year.

“Records of all pilot whale hunts have been kept since 1584 and the practice is deemed sustainable, as there are an estimated 778,000 whales in the eastern North Atlantic region,” the website writes.

“Approximately 100,000 swim close to the Faroe Islands, and the Faroese hunt on average 800 pilot whales annually.”

Featured Image: Long-finned pilot whales are beached and killed on Faroe Islands (iStock/Kasper Solberg)

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