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Faroese guy here. Feel free to ask me any questions if there is something in this comment that I don't address. As you might imagine, Faroese people have a ten

Faroese guy here. Feel free to ask me any questions if there is something in this comment that I don't address. As you might imagine, Faroese people have a tendency to get quite defensive when this subject comes up. In my opinion, this mostly comes from the fact that most of the critique is based on misinformation. First of all, I should point out that the whale slaughter is not purely a tradition. It's not like fox hunting or bullfighting, which is are mainly done for entertainment and other non-essential reasons. The whale hunt accounts for a significant portion of the meat consumed in the country. The only other locally sourced meat is sheep and fish. Everything else needs to be imported. The whale hunt is not for fun or for entertainment. It is for food. Is it possible to survive without it? Sure, but then those missing calories will need to be imported, causing damage to the environment and also acting as drain on the already vulnerable economy. The Faroes are largely supported by fishing, and most families own a modern boat. If we for some reason had to do the whaling with traditional wooden boats, then we'd all need to own two boats. Not only that, but the hunt would become much more dangerous and risky for no practical reason. That said, the boats are probably not used for hunting like you imagine it. They are used to herd the whales onto the beach where they are killed using pretty traditional means. This part of the hunt has also diverged from the old days though, and I would definitely say for the better. Originally, the whales were killed by slicing their throats, letting them bleed out. These days doing it like that is illegal. We have developed a new spear-like tool, which makes it easy to sever the spinal cord in a single blow, instantly killing the whales. This eliminates the most painful part for the animal. The whale drives are a communal effort to provide food for the entire community, not a "manhood tradition", as often depicted in the media. I can tell you one thing for certain - if people stopped caring about eating whales, the tradition would also stop.

lovemenot 8y ago
Can you estimate the number of whales taken in a year? Of which species?
- sakarisson 8y ago
  No need to estimate. Every whale is fully accounted for, going back 450 years. Here is a table from 2000 to 2017 http://www.whaling.fo/en/regulated/450-years-of-statistics/catches/ http://www.whaling.fo/en/regulated/450-years-of-statistics/c... As you can see, it varies wildly, going from zero some years to around 1,500 some years.
  - Symbiote 8y ago
    That's interesting, I didn't know there were official statistics. It's a lot more than I would have guessed, given the official recommended maximum consumption of pilot whale [1] is 300g per month per adult. 50,000 people [2] gives 180,000 kg per year. An average mass for a pilot whale might be 1300 kg, of which perhaps half is edible [4]. That means 275 whales is more than enough, yet over double that is caught in the average year. Presumably, many people aren't bothered by the toxins. [1] http://www.whaling.fo/media/1043/hfs-uk_0.pdf http://www.whaling.fo/media/1043/hfs-uk_0.pdf [2] I'm ignoring children, pregnant women etc, who have a lower/nil recommendation, so this estimate is an overestimate [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_whale#Description https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_whale#Description [4] http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/beef/facts/05-075f1.htm http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/beef/facts/05-... or http://www.icrwhale.org/pdf/SC004184-209.pdf http://www.icrwhale.org/pdf/SC004184-209.pdf since I can't see how much meat + blubber there is on a pilot whale
growlist 8y ago
> eliminates the most painful part Physical pain perhaps - I'd imagine the herding onto the beach still involves a fair amount of terror for the poor beasts. Also I'm not sure I buy the either/or rationalisation presented. No doubt there are other ways to provide enough calories that might even lead to new exports. Thankfully most of the world views whaling as a shameful throwback to less enlightened times; I look forward to the days when the remaining holdouts see the light.
- sakarisson 8y ago
  > Also I'm not sure I buy the either/or rationalisation presented. No doubt there are other ways to provide enough calories that might even lead to new exports. This is a very easy statement to make if you're not planning on providing any examples. I did. We can import the food. In my view, this is a worse solution than the current one. If you have an idea for how to increase local Faroese food production enough to completely offset the energy obtained from whale meat, you should consider coming here to teach us.
  - growlist 8y ago
    The Netherlands seem to be the experts on agricultural innovation. Apart from that I can imagine that the wild pristine environment etc would be a powerful marketing angle for artisanal/organic products of various types. Faroese Gin flavoured with local botanicals and made with pure local spring water? Finest Faroese beef? There's a huge market for this kind of stuff and people love to boast about having tried it, and often the rarer and more obscure the better. I don't accept that every possible other option that the universe offers has been exhausted, which seems to be your position. I'm not suggesting you drink the Gin to replace the calories in case this isn't clear - more exports would enable more imports.
- lb1lf 8y ago
  At the risk of opening a can of worms, what is it really about whaling which makes it so much worse than other forms of hunting? We do, after all, kill other mammals for food which -if one can use such a word- intellectually are at least on par with the whale species hunted without much by way of outrage from the public. So - what is so special about the whales? (Full disclosure - Norwegian, we also hunt whales; while whale meat is by no means an everyday occurrence, I tend to eat it 4-5 times a year, which probably is above the national average)
isostatic 8y ago
What internet connectivity do you get? I assume it's just one submarine cable - do you get reliability problems? Are speeds limited? What about on island connectivity, mainly wireless, or are your lines (especially on the remote islands) good enough for DSL?
- Sammi 8y ago
  There are two fast modern submarine cables connecting the faroe islands: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FARICE-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FARICE-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHEFA-2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHEFA-2 Prices of one of the major ISPs: https://www.ft.fo/ver/breidband/ https://www.ft.fo/ver/breidband/ 50/10 - 487 dkk, 65.42 euro, 76.29 usd 75/10 - 497 dkk, 66.76 euro, 77.86 usd 100/20 - 527 dkk, 70.79 euro, 82.56 usd And the other: https://hey.fo/internet/heimanet/breidband/ https://hey.fo/internet/heimanet/breidband/
  - Symbiote 8y ago
    For comparison, this is about 50% higher than the same services cost from the major ISPs in Denmark. Although where there's fibre to a large apartment building, it can be half the typical rate.
pdxpatzer 8y ago
Saw this documentary about the issue of whaling and came out with a much more sophisticated understanding of it. The Islands and the Whales (2016) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5746140/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5746140/ trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30YRnTO2FVI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30YRnTO2FVI
hestefisk 8y ago
Danish guy here. This cynical view of the whale nervous system and modern (effective) “spears” is exactly why the international community is so critical of the Faroese. When you have actually seen the bloodbath with your own eyes (which I have during a visit up there years ago), most people would agree.
- ricardobeat 8y ago
  Have you ever been to a farm? Are you vegetarian? What he describes sounds pretty normal to me, from the perspective of growing up in a cattle-growing country.

lovemenot 8y ago

Can you estimate the number of whales taken in a year? Of which species?

sakarisson 8y ago
No need to estimate. Every whale is fully accounted for, going back 450 years. Here is a table from 2000 to 2017 http://www.whaling.fo/en/regulated/450-years-of-statistics/catches/ http://www.whaling.fo/en/regulated/450-years-of-statistics/c... As you can see, it varies wildly, going from zero some years to around 1,500 some years.
- Symbiote 8y ago
  That's interesting, I didn't know there were official statistics. It's a lot more than I would have guessed, given the official recommended maximum consumption of pilot whale [1] is 300g per month per adult. 50,000 people [2] gives 180,000 kg per year. An average mass for a pilot whale might be 1300 kg, of which perhaps half is edible [4]. That means 275 whales is more than enough, yet over double that is caught in the average year. Presumably, many people aren't bothered by the toxins. [1] http://www.whaling.fo/media/1043/hfs-uk_0.pdf http://www.whaling.fo/media/1043/hfs-uk_0.pdf [2] I'm ignoring children, pregnant women etc, who have a lower/nil recommendation, so this estimate is an overestimate [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_whale#Description https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_whale#Description [4] http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/beef/facts/05-075f1.htm http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/beef/facts/05-... or http://www.icrwhale.org/pdf/SC004184-209.pdf http://www.icrwhale.org/pdf/SC004184-209.pdf since I can't see how much meat + blubber there is on a pilot whale

growlist 8y ago

> eliminates the most painful part Physical pain perhaps - I'd imagine the herding onto the beach still involves a fair amount of terror for the poor beasts. Also I'm not sure I buy the either/or rationalisation presented. No doubt there are other ways to provide enough calories that might even lead to new exports. Thankfully most of the world views whaling as a shameful throwback to less enlightened times; I look forward to the days when the remaining holdouts see the light.

sakarisson 8y ago
> Also I'm not sure I buy the either/or rationalisation presented. No doubt there are other ways to provide enough calories that might even lead to new exports. This is a very easy statement to make if you're not planning on providing any examples. I did. We can import the food. In my view, this is a worse solution than the current one. If you have an idea for how to increase local Faroese food production enough to completely offset the energy obtained from whale meat, you should consider coming here to teach us.
- growlist 8y ago
  The Netherlands seem to be the experts on agricultural innovation. Apart from that I can imagine that the wild pristine environment etc would be a powerful marketing angle for artisanal/organic products of various types. Faroese Gin flavoured with local botanicals and made with pure local spring water? Finest Faroese beef? There's a huge market for this kind of stuff and people love to boast about having tried it, and often the rarer and more obscure the better. I don't accept that every possible other option that the universe offers has been exhausted, which seems to be your position. I'm not suggesting you drink the Gin to replace the calories in case this isn't clear - more exports would enable more imports.
lb1lf 8y ago
At the risk of opening a can of worms, what is it really about whaling which makes it so much worse than other forms of hunting? We do, after all, kill other mammals for food which -if one can use such a word- intellectually are at least on par with the whale species hunted without much by way of outrage from the public. So - what is so special about the whales? (Full disclosure - Norwegian, we also hunt whales; while whale meat is by no means an everyday occurrence, I tend to eat it 4-5 times a year, which probably is above the national average)

isostatic 8y ago

What internet connectivity do you get? I assume it's just one submarine cable - do you get reliability problems? Are speeds limited? What about on island connectivity, mainly wireless, or are your lines (especially on the remote islands) good enough for DSL?

Sammi 8y ago
There are two fast modern submarine cables connecting the faroe islands: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FARICE-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FARICE-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHEFA-2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHEFA-2 Prices of one of the major ISPs: https://www.ft.fo/ver/breidband/ https://www.ft.fo/ver/breidband/ 50/10 - 487 dkk, 65.42 euro, 76.29 usd 75/10 - 497 dkk, 66.76 euro, 77.86 usd 100/20 - 527 dkk, 70.79 euro, 82.56 usd And the other: https://hey.fo/internet/heimanet/breidband/ https://hey.fo/internet/heimanet/breidband/
- Symbiote 8y ago
  For comparison, this is about 50% higher than the same services cost from the major ISPs in Denmark. Although where there's fibre to a large apartment building, it can be half the typical rate.

pdxpatzer 8y ago

Saw this documentary about the issue of whaling and came out with a much more sophisticated understanding of it. The Islands and the Whales (2016) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5746140/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5746140/ trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30YRnTO2FVI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30YRnTO2FVI

hestefisk 8y ago

Danish guy here. This cynical view of the whale nervous system and modern (effective) “spears” is exactly why the international community is so critical of the Faroese. When you have actually seen the bloodbath with your own eyes (which I have during a visit up there years ago), most people would agree.

ricardobeat 8y ago
Have you ever been to a farm? Are you vegetarian? What he describes sounds pretty normal to me, from the perspective of growing up in a cattle-growing country.