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A few hundred miles southeast of Iceland, 50,000 descendants of Vikings live on a string of craggy islands called the Faroes. For more than 1,000 years, the people here have hunted pilot whales, and whale meat continues to be an important part of their diet. But when pictures of whale hunts first appeared in the media during the 1980s, many from the outside world were shocked and animal rights activists mounted an anti-whaling campaign. The protests eventually abated, partly because the Faroese are not involved in commercial whaling. Yet, the islanders now face a new threat to their way of life: A landmark 20-year study of Faroese children has found that high levels of methyl mercury and other contaminants in the whale meat are harmful to a child’s neurological development. FRONTLINE/World reporter Serene Fang explores how the study’s findings have rubbed against deeply held traditions in this beautiful and remote part of the world.
Svend Heinesen
Copenhagen, Denmark
Thank you very much for this film. I thought it was a welcome break from the accusations we usually find ourself the center of. Finally a non-Faroese effort to look objectively at what the whale tradition is to the Faroese.
All the best,
Svend, a Faroese in Denmark
Dean Stelmach
Oakland Park, FL
Did anyone posting here watch the video beyond the whale hunt? The issue here is MERCURY.
I spent several months getting to know a woman from the Faroe Islands and learning their culture. I met some of her visiting relatives. Asking the Faroese to quit killing and eating whale is as preposterous as telling the Seminoles to quit killing and eating alligators. How much farmable land did you see in the report?
The smug ethnocentric judgements on their diet is a dumb distraction from the real danger from mercury poisoning. Does anyone think that it's OK for the whales to be full of mercury as long as no one kills them for food?
Before the mercury contamination doctors from all over the world studied the Faroese and found them to be unusually healthy with the best teeth anywhere. The diet couldn't be that bad.
Joseph Young
Houston, TX
I'm extremely disappointed with the reactions from other viewers. The goal of this piece was not to question whether hunting whale was ethical. We were shown that a very important part of Faroese culture is threatened due to pollution of the ocean by others thousands of miles away. I find it disgusting that many feel that this contamination is merely a serendipitous means to ending the whale hunt.
faroese faroeman
Torshavn
You large nations can just keep dumping chemicals into the ocean, and no one can eat anything from the ocean at all.
Is it better to pollute whales and make their lives horrible, than give them a quick death?
No matter if humans kill animals or not, there will always be a natural balance, that will make them die from something else (like die from hunger, or eaten by other animals).
Theo
Irvine, CA
What is happening is not worse than what happenns in US slaughter houses. If many Americans actually see how beef, pork and chicken are prepared before the meat get to the supermarket, less than 5% of US population will ever eat meat again. It is barbarous and inhuman, and it does not have to be so. At least these Faroe Islanders, hunt and share among themselves. In the US, the rich own the farms and slaughter houses, and the poor work to buy the dirty meat as food. Who is kidding who?
(anonymous)
All cultures of this world are going to have to give up certain cultural practices in order to create sustainability. I would not question the hunts if they used their historic row boats and spears. The pacific Native Americans also hunt from culture...one whale a year! Soon all peoples are going to realize the cost of eating any animal is too much for our modern population numbers and ecosystems.
Mike smith
Montreal, Quebec
Something feels innately wrong about killing sea mammals. However, I understand the cultural implications of the 'whale hunt' to people of the Faroes. This is a difficult subject for me to remain unbiased about, so Great Journalism! I really liked the piece.
Kelly
Dallas, Texas
Watching this video, I was surprisingly not as disturbed as I anticipated to be. Although the killing of these whales was inhumane, I feel that people must do what they can to survive. I don't understand how people can so strongly disagree with the killing of these whales, seeing as how we eat chicken, cow, lamb, duck etc. and they are all killed specifically for the grocery store. Killing whales for food is completely different than killing an animal for its fur, or for its tusks. The Faroese will continue to eat whale and continue their tradition, so I will continue to support them in their way of life.
R. L. Hails Sr. P. E.
Olney, MD
There are some serious untruths involved in the Frontline treatment of mercury "pollution". Aqueous mercury sources are common among volcanoes, eroding granite, and oceanic thermal vents environments, and concentrates as methyl mercury, a toxin, in high chain predator sea creatures. It is found in sea harvests from Iceland, Hawaii, the South Pacific, and many waters none of which are highly industrial environs. The Seychelles study fundamentally contradicts the Faroe study in that no detrimental effects were discovered with massive long-term intake of mercury. (See: http://whyfiles.org/201mercury/3.html)
Moreover, for two centuries dentists have used almost pure mercury to make permanent fillings, for hundreds of millions of patients, with no known detrimental effects. People with "silver" fillings have orders of magnitude (500 X) more mercury in their bodies than EPA limits for water ingestion. (See http://www.cfsn.com/dental.html)
The level of science on this "Pollutant" is very poor. Until basic correlations can withstand technical scrutiny, common sense, it is simply ignorant fear mongering to link a naturally occurring trace metal with health issues related to an ancient human activity, fishing. Journalists are not far from witch doctors. Both make a living, reporting on the boogeyman.
D K
Bakersfield, Calif
Well done. This is part of their culture,it is for them to decide if change is needed.
(anonymous)
I am with Cohen on this one. If this is a huge part of the Faroese culture, then why not do it as your ancestors did? And more upsetting to me was the fact that everyone seemed to enjoy the slaughter of these sentient, intelligent creatures, children included. If an animal gives its life to keep you alive, should you not at least show a little RESPECT for the dead/dying creature?
Peter Eves
Pago Pago, American Samoa
The video was very interesting. Learning traditional practices that still continue, yet we have to adapt to what we deal with everyday. New regulations and new sicknesses. [Allowing] chasing [of the whales] could be an outlet for traditional practice but killing, may be stopped, if possible.
hamza slaoui
nanaimo, canada, british colombia
Shame on you! Do you have a heart at least??
Dave Kubiak
Kodiak, Alaska
I have been recently to the Faroes and met the people. I have read the IWC reports on Faroese whaling and they take such a minute number of pilot whales that according to the IWC, it is insignificant. So the important issue is not the whales they take but the pollution destroying the viability of the sea.
justin
san diego, ca
It is important to see how this culture affirms the bond it has had for a millenia. The Faroese truly care about their community and the people in it. True, the tradition will have to move into a symbolic festival, rather than a ritual mass slaughter, either out of regulation, respect for sustainable life or by a shameful extinction. I hope the doctor's warning is heeded. The health concerns at present (human and marine life) should outwiegh the provisional concerns of the past.
Sara L.
Austin, Texas
I enjoyed listening to the musicians you featured on the Web site. I'd say hearing them live would be worth a trip to the Faroe Islands!
Holly
san diego, ca
This has to be one of the worst things i've ever seen. I am heartbroken to think that people still do these kinds of things.
d car
norrisstown, pa.
I think the people should look for another source of food.
Mike Smith
Montreal, Quebec
I think it's important to mention that cultural practices, that were adopted what feels like eons ago, should not be allowed to continue if they involve the slaughter of animals. Especially whales and marine mammals.
Cohen
Cambridge, MA
I was very disturbed by the sight of so many high-speed boats herding up whales. If this is tradition then why the fast boats? I know that whales are very intelligent creatures that must have been terrified during this hunt!
Damascus, Oregon
I was finally able to view the video about the Faroe Islands, and I think it was done very well.The photography was beautiful and the story was very humane and interesting.
Thank you. Sincerely, Rakul
Damascus, Oregon
I am from the Faroe Islands; and I was looking forward to seeing your video on the Faroe Islands, since I missed the program on OPB, but I have been unable to get it run, even though I have tried everal times. Would it be possible for you to send the video clip to me? I would really appreciate it.
Thank you.
Sincerely
Rakul
FRONTLINE/World's editors respond:
The video has not been posted yet, but will be soon. Try again and it should play just fine.
Emmanuel
New York, NY
Just because they have been eating whale for centuries doesn't justify the brutality of the whole thing. Aren't they an advanced society now? Can they go to their supermarkets and buy chicken? Many cultures used to eat any and all sorts of wild game until many were hunted to extinction. Should this be allowed to continue? Cattle is raised commercially. These people jump into their high-tech speedboats and herd the whales to share and slaughter them. Why don't they go out whale hunting in the traditional sea-vessels that their ancestors have always used? Talk about getting something for nothing.
Anonymous Anonymous
Staten Island, New York
I am a school psychologist and the learning disabilities described in this report are remarkably similar to what I have been seeing with increasing frequency in special ed preschoolers in Staten Island. That is, delayed language and social skills, short attention span and hyperactivity.
Mr. Leslie Spaiser
Concord, CA
Although I am against all commercial whale hunting seeing the hunt on the Faroe Islands did not disturb me. For one thing I eat meat, and somebody had the bloody job of killing the cattle. In this land people have survived by eating whales for a thousand years. I don't feel the small impact of these native people eating whales is of any significance to that particular whale population. However I am sorry for them because we, in the "advanced world" have poisoned their food source not only in the oceans but in streams and lakes across America and the world. Mercury in fresh top predator fish is now a local concern in many places in America. This is the real tragedy, not the killing of several hundreds of whales by a small indigenouspopulation.
Coram, New York
Alone in my kitchen, clearing away after the evening meal I settled in on Frontline and was profoundly struck by the nature of the programing being presented...particularly the story on the Faroese. Though, up until that moment i knew nothing of them, I recognized them as descendents of Vikings and was amazed and overjoyed that such people still exist... thank you.
