Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
dolphin image cleanup
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history
  • Loading branch information
CarloBroderick committed Aug 25, 2023
1 parent 256f7d8 commit 572627b
Showing 1 changed file with 3 additions and 2 deletions.
5 changes: 3 additions & 2 deletions content/news/faroe_islands.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -19,11 +19,12 @@ menu:

{{<newsHead>}}

The practice of whale hunting has been a long-standing tradition in the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark [(Olsen 2011)](https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/KILLING-METHODS-AND-EQUIPMENT-IN-THE-FAROESE-PILOT-Olsen/2516dc146d0ad36f857c020894979ceeacd6bc6c). However, this cultural practice has recently come under increased domestic and international scrutiny. In September 2021, an unusually large whale hunt drew widespread attention and criticism. This single hunt resulted in the slaughter of 1,428 wwhite-sided dolphins, a significant outlier in the Island's recent whale hunting statistics [(BBC 2021)](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58555694). This event is now appearing as a notable spike in "cetacean captures" for the Faroe Islands within the [United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)](https://www.fao.org/home/en) data set used by the Ocean Health Index (OHI). Cetaceans, a taxonomic group that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises, have been hunted for centuries but the practice is now widely considered unsustainable, as it poses threats to the long-term health and survival of these species, and to the overall balance of marine ecosystems [(Parsons 2022)](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-98100-6_7).
The practice of whale hunting has been a long-standing tradition in the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark [(Olsen 2011)](https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/KILLING-METHODS-AND-EQUIPMENT-IN-THE-FAROESE-PILOT-Olsen/2516dc146d0ad36f857c020894979ceeacd6bc6c). However, this cultural practice has recently come under increased domestic and international scrutiny. In September 2021, an unusually large whale hunt drew widespread attention and criticism. This single hunt resulted in the slaughter of 1,428 white-sided dolphins, a significant outlier in the Island's recent whale hunting statistics [(BBC 2021)](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58555694). This event is now appearing as a notable spike in "cetacean captures" for the Faroe Islands within the [United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)](https://www.fao.org/home/en) data set used by the Ocean Health Index (OHI). Cetaceans, a taxonomic group that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises, have been hunted for centuries but the practice is now widely considered unsustainable, as it poses threats to the long-term health and survival of these species, and to the overall balance of marine ecosystems [(Parsons 2022)](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-98100-6_7).

![](/images/white_sided_dolphin.jpg)

<div style="text-align: right; font-size: 0.7em;">
Illustration by <a href="https://www.matturalist.com/">Matthew Messina</a>
Illustration of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_white-sided_dolphin"> Atlantic white-sided dolphin</a> by <a href="https://www.matturalist.com/">Matthew Messina
</div>

The magnitude of the 2021 event can also be seen in the interactive graph below from the country's own national statistical authority, [Statistics Faroe Islands](https://hagstova.fo/en/environment/natural-resources/whale-hunt). To see the impact of the 2021 whale hunting event on the Faroe Island's whale hunting statistics, select the "Other Dolphins" item in the legend on the right.
Expand Down

0 comments on commit 572627b

Please sign in to comment.