Written by: Ross Clark 15 July 2023, 9:28am
It is not pleasant to think of a poor bunch of creatures in distress, but the passengers who visited the Faeroes last Sunday aboard an Ambassador cruise liner have at least received an apology for their upset. Some 78 pilot whales were driven into a bay and slaughtered in front of them in a traditional hunt which goes back to the 16th century. The company issued a statement saying:
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… While traditional hunts of this type have taken place for many years in the Faeroe Islands to sustain local communities, we strongly object to this outdated practice.
There is no word yet, though, of an apology to the Faroe Islanders for having to watch a shipload of cruise passengers disembark in their small capital city, Torshavn, take a few photos and buy a few trinkets before heading back to their ship for bed and board. Large cruise ships are a big enough curse as it is, without their crew and passengers coming to tut-tut at your way of life.
The killing of pilot whales by Faroe Islanders is not a conservation issue. Annually, they kill around 800 of the animals, out of a global population estimated at between 800,000 and 1 million. Moreover, if you want to reduce human harm to pilot whales, the Faeroes’ hunt is not where you would start. Pilot whales are notorious for beaching themselves, by the hundred – a fate which some believe may be made worse by noise pollution from ships. The animals have also been found to have high levels of the insecticide DDT and the PCBs – chemicals used in the electrical industry. So, if you are really concerned about pilot whales, you should maybe keep your cruise ships away from areas they inhabit.
Opposition to whaling on the scale practiced in the Faeroes is really just a product of our infantilised, anthropomorphising modern world
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Ed West
The rise of the French Intifada
Opposition to whaling on the scale practiced in the Faeroes is really just a product of our infantilised, anthropomorphising modern world, in which some species seem to have acquired a sacred status. In the case of whales, their cause is helped by the illusion of a smile, which helps us imagine them with human emotions. If they looked as vacuous as a turbot we might be less inclined to elevate them to sacred status. Are they really more intelligent than other mammals that end up on our plates? Who knows. But in a strict utilitarian sense there is a moral case for whaling: take the life of a single whale and you can feed several hundred Faeroes Islanders in one go. It is a very different calculation if you are going to be fed on, say, whitebait.
But one thing is for sure: we might not take it kindly if a coachload of package tourists from the Faeroes turned up at a slaughterhouse in Britain and started objecting to us eating pigs, cows, sheep, and chicken. In fact, we might just be inclined to tell them to pack up their bus and hotfoot it back to Torshavn. If the Faeroes decide to ban cruise ships from their waters, I can’t say I would blame them.
WRITTEN BY
Ross Clark is a leader writer and columnist who has written for The Spectator for three decades. His books include Not Zero and The Road to Southend Pier.
Link to original: The Spectator
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