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- The Faroe Islands, an autonomous Danish territory, faced an outcry over the culling of more than 1,400 white-sided dolphins in a day in what was said to be the single biggest hunt in the northern archipelago.
- The pod of white-sided dolphins was driven into the largest fjord in the North Atlantic territory
- Boats herded them into shallow waters at Skalabotnur beach in Eysturoy, where they were killed with knives.
- The carcases were pulled ashore and distributed to locals for consumption.
- Footage of the hunt shows dolphins thrashing around in waters turned red with blood as hundreds of people watch on from the beach.
- Known as the grind (or Grindadrap in Faroese), the hunting of sea mammals – primarily whales – is a tradition that has been practised for hundreds of years on the remote Faroe Islands.
- The Faroese government says about 600 pilot whales are caught every year on average.
- White-sided dolphins are caught in lower numbers, such as 35 in 2020 and 10 in 2019.
WHALING
- Supporters say whaling is a sustainable way of gathering food from nature and an important part of their cultural identity.
- Animal rights activists have long disagreed, deeming the slaughter cruel and unnecessary.
- Currently, dolphin hunting in the Faroe Islands is legal, though it does require a license and permission from local authorities.
- Proponents of the grind worry that Sunday’s mass killing will give leverage to environmentalists looking to outlaw (or at least tightly regulate) the practice.
- And they might be right. The event sparked a massive backlash on social media worldwide, including calls to boycott Faroe Island exports, such as salmon.
Braced for ‘a big backlash’
- Surveys suggest that most people are opposed to the mass slaughter of dolphins in the Faroe Islands.
- The national reaction was “one of bewilderment and shock because of the extraordinarily big number”, said Trondur Olsen, a journalist for Faroese public broadcaster Kringvarp Foroya.
- “
- We did a quick poll yesterday asking whether we should continue to kill these dolphins. Just over 50% said no, and just over 30% said yes
- In contrast, he said, a separate poll suggested that 80% said they wanted to continue with the killing of pilot whales.
- The polls provide a snapshot of public opinion towards the killing of sea mammals.
- Criticism of the Faroese hunt has ebbed and flowed over the years.
- The hunt is brought to wider attention from time to time, as it was by the popular Seaspiracy documentary on Netflix earlier this year.
- At least 40 dolphins have mysteriously died in an area of Mauritius affected by an oil spill from a Japanese boat, witnesses described the deaths of one mother dolphin and her baby
- Environmentalists have demanded an investigation into whether the dolphins were killed as a result of the spill from a Japanese ship, after running aground in July and leaking oil.
- Thousands of protesters demonstrated in the Mauritius capital Port Louis to demand an investigation into an oil spill from a Japanese ship and the mysterious death of at least 40 dolphins that have been found near the site of the spill.
Faroe Islands
- It is an archipelago, in the North Atlantic ocean,located 320 kilometres northwest of Scotland, and about halfway between Norway and Iceland.
- An archipelago is a group of islandsclosely scattered in a body of water. Usually, this body of water is the ocean, but it can also be a lake or river.
- Like Greenland, it is anautonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
- It is a part of the Nordic countries.
- The terrain is rugged; theclimate is subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc)—windy, wet, cloudy, and cool
WHITE SIDED DOLPHIN
- Scientific Name: Lagenorhynchus acutus
- The Atlantic white-sided dolphin is a distinctively coloured dolphin found in the cool to temperate waters of the North Atlantic Ocean.
- The species is endemic to the North Atlantic Ocean.
- The distribution limits are Norwegian sea in the north east; Davis Strait in the north west; North Carolina in the south west and Celtic Sea in the south east (possible range extension to the Azores).
- A survey of the two stocks off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California from 2008 to 2014 found a population of more than 21,000 dolphins.
Conservation Status:
CONSERVATION STATUS IN INDIA
New Contender For State Amphibian
- Wildlife Protection Act:In 1986 after the launch of Ganga Action Plan in 1985, the government included Gangetic dolphins in the First Schedule of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.
- Conservation Plan:The Conservation Action Plan for the Ganges River Dolphin 2010-2020, which “identified threats to Gangetic Dolphins and impact of river traffic, irrigation canals and depletion of prey-base on Dolphins populations”.
- The National Ganga River Basin Authority(replaced by National Ganga Council) in 2009 and constituted a Working Group under the Patna University to prepare a Conservation Action Plan for the Gangetic Dolphin in 2009.
- National Aquatic Animal:In 2009, during the 1st meeting of the National Ganga River Basin Authority, the Gangetic river dolphin was declared as the national aquatic animal.
- The National Mission for Clean Ganga celebrates5th October as National Ganga River Dolphin Day.
Q.Consider the following statements about White Sided Dolphin :
- White sided Dolphine scientifically called as Lagenorhynchus acutus
- found in the cool to temperate waters of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) Both 1 and 2 are correct
(b) 1 Only
(c) 2 only
(d) Both 1 and 2 are incorrect
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