9Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra

Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Brad Witt, Former President Trump, Henry Heimuller, Joe Biden, Pat Robertson, Ted Cruz, Joe Biden’s dogs, or Claudia Eagle’s Cats. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone. See Bill’s Standard Disclaimer

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Whales and Whaling

 

Finally A victory for Whales but not for the Pilot Whales

 

The hunting and killing of whales has been very controversial for decades. Hvalfjordur, Iceland in 2006. The country broke a global ban on commercial whaling, killing the fin whale for the first time since the 1980s.

 

Iceland says it will end whaling from 2024 amid dwindling demand and continuing controversy. Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Svandís Svavarsdóttir said in an op-ed in Friday's Morgunblaðið newspaper. "There are few justifications to authorize whale hunting beyond 2024," when current quotas expire. Whale hunting had not had much economic significance to Iceland in years. In the last 3 years one minke whale was caught in 2021. Whaling holds no benefit for Iceland

 

Japan has been the biggest buyers of whale meat in the past. But in recent years the consumption of whale meat has dramatically reduced in Japan and is dwindling more and more each year. In fact Japan had 50,000 pounds of whale meat in reserve that is not being consumed.

 

Commercial whaling was banned in a 1986 International Whaling Commission embargo, but Japan withdrew from the IWC in December 2018, marking their return to whaling by harpooning two Minke whales in 2019.

 

Since whale hunting has been more and more controversial US retail chain Whole Foods had stopped marketing all Icelandic products for a while as a result Iceland decided not to whale hunt, it simply did not make dollar sense.

 

Iceland has not been without issues and problems joining the IWC and then backing out, for example, the IWC, whose purpose is to provide for the proper conservation of whale stocks and thus make possible the orderly development of the whaling industry, Iceland continued a small "scientific whaling program" after the 1986 embargo.

 

Iceland left the IWC in 1992 but rejoined in 2002, this time taking out a "reservation" against the embargo. Iceland resumed commercial whaling in October 2006 in a move angrily disputed by many countries irate at what they considered as Iceland's attempt to bypass international regulations, according to Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), a non-profit organization.

 

More than 1,700 Minke, fin and Sei whales have been killed in Iceland since the 1986 embargo, according to data from the WDC. The same report found that 852 fin whales were slaughtered in Iceland from 2006 to 2018. There was no whaling in the 2019, 2020 or 2021 seasons.

Fin whales are classed as a vulnerable species on The International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, while Sei whales are categorized as an endangered. The status of Minke whales is unknown, according to the Red List.

 

The Red List is a site which lists species that are considered to be threatened.

The slaughter of whales is needless, we have moved beyond the need for whale oil for lamps and food. These gentle giants need protection from greed and abuse.

 

The murder of thousands of Pilot whales in the Faroe islands the hunt is called the Grind.

A super-pod of 1428 Atlantic White-Sided Dolphins was driven for many hours and for around 45 km by speed boats and jet-skis into the shallow water at Skálabotnur beach in the Danish Faroe Islands, where every single one of them was killed.

 

This latest dolphin genocide was so brutal and badly mishandled that it is no surprise the hunt is being condemned in the Faroese media and even by many outspoken pro-whalers and politicians in the Faroe Islands.

 

Many participants of the hunt had no license, which is required in the Faroe Islands, since it involves specific training in how to quickly kill the pilot whales and dolphins. Footage shows many of the dolphins were still alive and moving even after being thrown onshore with the rest of their dead pod. Dolphins had been run over by motorboats, essentially hacked by propellers, which would have resulted in a slow and painful death The Grind foreman for the district was never informed and therefore never authorized the hunt. Instead, it was another district’s foreman who called the Grind without the proper authority.

 

Meat from a grindadrap is shared amongst the participants and any remainder among the locals in the district where the hunt takes place. However there is more dolphin meat from this hunt than anyone wants to take, so the dolphins are being offered to other districts in the hopes of not having to dump it. Most of the dolphins will be thrown in the trash or in a hole in the ground a local said.

Many local people want the barbaric tradition stopped they are afraid that the international press showing the slaughtered dolphins put their exports at risk (the Faroe Islands export salmon to the UK, US, and Russia).

 

Even the local Faroese press, usually reluctant to publish anything against the hunt, quotes Hans Jacob Hermansen, former chairman of the Grind, saying the killing was unnecessary.

The hunt was carried out towards the end of the summer when the Faroese have already killed 615 long-finned pilot whales, bringing the total number of cetaceans killed in 2021 in the Faroe Islands to a shocking 2043.

 

By the people in the Faroe Islands own omission they waste these creatures meat. This is another senseless mass murder of ocean creatures. Hopefully those folks that are opposed of these mass killings will prevail soon.

 

I don’t have a problem of these people taking enough animals to eat for their own use. But to kill thousands and then throw away the majority of these murdered animals is a waste and wrong.

 

Do not buy food from the Faroe Islands.

 

 

Tammy

 

 

 

 

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1428 murdered Pilot Whales, the sea ran red with their blood, many

Were chopped half to death with boat propellers, laid suffering

Then the meat was wasted.