MANY were shocked last year when footage emerged of the Faroes dolphin hunt that killed more than 1,400 of the marine mammals. Footage from the Faroese “Grind”, their hunt for pilot whales or white-sided dolphin, often causes an outcry. But the images of that particular hunt, of slaughtered dolphins laid out on the beach by a blood-soaked sea, led to more than an outcry – it provoked a review by the Faroese government. The result this year their Ministry of Fisheries has a set a limit on the hunt for white-sided dolphins at 500.

Hang on, isn’t 500 still quite a lot of dolphins?

Yes, and actually it’s also greater than the average annual cull since the turn of the century, which is 260 – so it’s still shockingly high and no great breakthrough for animal protection. But at least it means such unlimited slaughter won’t happen again. What caused the review was the unprecedented scale of the cull. Records showed that this was the largest number killed in one day in the islands’ history. Such was the horror that a petition with almost 1.3 million signatures calling for a ban on the traditional hunt was submitted to the Faroese government. A poll at the time found that while 83 per cent of the 53,000 islanders still supported the killing of pilot whales, 53% were now opposed to killing the white-sided dolphin.

Why are the Faroe Islanders continuing to hunt dolphins?

They are cleaving to a 1,200 year-old tradition. A recent statement by their Ministry of Fisheries observes: “Catches of small whales are an important supplement to the livelihoods of Faroe Islanders, who have for centuries relied on the sustainable use of marine resources for their economy and local food security. The meat and blubber from each whale drive provide valuable food with a low carbon footprint, which is distributed for free in the different communities where the catches take place.The utilisation of both pilot whales and white-sided dolphins in the Faroe Islands is sustainable.”

READ MORE: Faroes dolphin hunt. Scottish fisheries kill dolphins too

And all this is happening at a time when a third of the world’s cetaceans are threatened with extinction?

Yes, though the white-sided dolphin is classified as a species of least concern. It’s also worth nothing that the Faroese aren’t the only people killing dolphins or other cetaceans. There’s the famous dolphin hunt at Japan’s Taiji.

Plus, arguably, we kill them too – when they die as bycatch in the fishing of commercial species. According to the charity Whale and Dolphin Conservation, each year, in UK waters, more than 1,000 porpoises and hundreds of dolphins, including 250 common dolphins, die after being caught in gillnets.