The inhabitants of the Faroe Islands, a windswept archipelago in the North Atlantic roughly halfway between Norway and Iceland, have been hunting long-finned pilot whales and white-sided dolphins for food for almost a thousand years. The summer hunt is known as the Grindadráp, often called the Grind, and typically slaughters around 600 whales. The whale meat is considered a key part of Faroese culture and is shared among the community. The grind has been the target of international protests for years.

This year was more brutal than ever before. Faroese hunters corralled an extremely large pod of white-sided dolphins in a fjord and butchered a record 1,428 dolphins in a single day. 

The repercussions were swift. Phys.org reports that Bardur a Steig Nielsen, the archipelago’s prime minister, while defending the hunt as sustainable, said that the government would re-evaluate “dolphin hunts, and what part they should play in Faroese society.”

The response may also be commercial. The Faroese rely on exporting fish, including salmon, and there are concerns that news of the massacre will damage the reputation of the archipelago. There are reports that fish exporters have gotten furious phone calls from their clients and the salmon industry has mobilized against dolphin hunting. 

Given the scale of the recent slaughter, there may be too much whale meat to be consumed by the entire 50,000 inhabitants of the entire archipelago. There are also concerns about the safety of eating whale meat which has been found to contain high levels of mercury and other toxins.

“For such a hunt to take place in 2021 in a very wealthy European island community… with no need or use for such a vast quantity of contaminated meat is outrageous,” said Rob Read, chief operating officer at marine conservation NGO Sea Shepherd.

Faroese journalist Hallur av Rana said that while a large majority of islanders defend the “grind” itself, 53 percent are opposed to killing dolphins.

Thanks to Virginia Jones for contributing to this post.