6 Killing Methods and Equipement in the Faroese Pilot Whale Hunt
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KILLING METHODS AND EQUIPMENT IN THE FAROESE PILOT WHALE HUNT NAMMCO/99/WS/2 (Translation from Danish*) Jústines Olsen, Senior Veterinarian Faroe Veterinary Service Varðagøtu 85 FO-100 Tórshavn Faroe Islands * English translation of paper: “Om avlivningsmetoder og udstyr for færøsk grindefangst”(NAMMCO/99/WS/2), presented to the NAMMCO Workshop on Hunting Methods, Nuuk, Greenland, 9 – 11 February 1999. Abstract Pilot whales have been hunted for food in the Faroes since the early days of Norse settlement in the Viking age (800-900). Both the methods of hunting and the distribution of the catch are regulated by public authorities. Originally, regulations were primarily concerned with the collection by the authorities of a tax or tythe from the catch. There were strict requirements that each boat and whaling bay was to be properly equipped with the suitable hunting equipment. The whale hunt today is in general carried out in the same way as it has always been done, but there have been significant improvements in the techniques used, as well as in the organisation of the drive and in the regulation of whaling locations. This paper describes the equipment used for driving and securing whales and for slaughtering. The equipment and methods are assessed in terms of current regulations and the results of analyses of killing efficiency are presented, and the extent of loss of wounded and dead whales is also mentioned. The paper also presents a brief overview of regulations and methods for the hunting of other small cetaceans in the Faroes. The hunt in general as well as procedures for the authorisation of whaling bays are described elsewhere. Introduction Archaeological evidence from the early Norse settlement of the Faroe Islands c. 1200 years ago, in the form of pilot whale bones found in household remains, indicates that the pilot whale, Globicephala melas, has long had a central place in the every day life of Faroe Islanders. The meat and blubber of the pilot whale has provided the islanders with an important part of their staple diet. The blubber, in particular, has been highly valued both as food and for processing into oil, which was used for lighting fuel and other purposes. Parts of the skin of pilot whales were also used for ropes and lines, while stomachs were used as floats, the oesophagus was used for shoes and the penis was dried and cut into strips which were used as sewing thread for skin shoes. 1 Rights to whales have been regulated by law since medieval times. References are found in early Norwegian legal documents, while the oldest existing legal document with specific reference to the Faroes, the so-called Sheep Letter from 1298, includes rules for rights to, and shares of both stranded whales as well as whales driven ashore. The pilot whale hunt today is still carried out in largely the same way as in former times. When a school of pilot whales is sighted, boats gather behind the whales and herd them towards a certain location, usually a bay or the bottom of a fjord. This location must be well suited for the purpose, which means that the seabed must gradually slope from the shore out to the deep water. Given such conditions, chances are good that the whales can be driven fully ashore or close enough to the shore that they can be secured and slaughtered from land. The actual slaughtering method has changed very little throughout the history of the hunt in the Faroes. The main idea has been to secure the whales either directly by hand or with a hook fixed in the whale’s outer layer of blubber and muscle, after which the whale is cut across the back of the neck and down to the spinal cord, severing both the main blood supply to the brain as well as the central nervous system. Once this cut is made, the whale lies completely still. If the conditions for driving and beaching a school were not favourable, a whale spear was used to pierce the whale in the heart. Another function of the whale spear was to prod one of the whales at the back of the school as the whales were being driven in and just before they had reached the shallows. This would cause the whale to panic and swim quickly past the others, thereby leading the rest of the school in a rush to the shore, where the whales would, as a result, strand higher up on the shore and therefore be easier to secure and kill. Finally, it should be added that if a school of whales could neither be driven ashore nor speared from boats, then the communal hunt would be abandoned and any individual would then be free to try his luck at harpooning single whales, and would then be entitled to keep for himself whatever he could catch. Although the nature of the pilot whale hunt and the methods used have not changed greatly over the years, there have been significant improvements in the driving procedures, as well as in methods and equipment in recent years. This is due to the banning of the spear and harpoon as whaling equipment, the development and introduction of a new method for securing the whales prior to slaughtering, and the re- evaluation of slaughtering techniques. In addition, all authorised whaling locations have been subject to a thorough reassessment and whaling regulations have been updated in accordance with these changes in practice. The result of these amendments is that official whaling equipment today comprises the traditional whaling hook and the new blowhole hook for securing whales, and the whaling knife for the slaughtering. These changes are described in more detail below. The harpoon The harpoon (in Faroese skutilin - see Figure 1), which was most often made by the 2 whalers themselves or by a local smith, is a c. 60 cm long and 8mm thick metal rod with a two-pronged barb at its point. At the other end of the rod there is a funnel-shaped extension in which a c. 2 m long and 4 cm thick wooden stick can be inserted. The wooden stick was attached in such a way that when the harpoon was thrown, the stick came away from the metal rod, which was itself attached to a line and could thus be retrieved. As mentioned above, the harpoon was only used when other catch options had been abandoned. Its efficiency as a hunting method no doubt varied greatly. It was not commonly used in pilot whale hunts, and nor was it used for any other purposes which would have allowed the development of any great skill in its use. The idea with the harpoon was to hit a whale within range in the chest area, so that the harpoon lodged between two ribs, with the barb ensuring that it was securely attached. The whale was then hauled as quickly as possible to the boat and killed. The possibilities for an accurate strike were however quite limited. Whales would often be struck in the tail area, making it very difficult to haul them to the boat, both due to the risk of the barb coming loose or the whale damaging the boat with its tail. In addition, a buoy was often attached to the harpoon line at a distance of c. 5 to 10 m. from the harpoon itself. This buoy helped to exhaust the whale and to reduce the tension and pressure of any sudden tugs on the harpoon line. Hunting rifles were sometimes also used in an attempt to kill a harpooned whale. But this method was very dangerous, as there was a considerable risk of misfires and accidents. With an amendment of the regulations through Executive Order no. 50 from 12 May 1986, the harpoon was formally banned as whaling equipment. The Faroese Animal Welfare Act of 14 March 1985, which also applies to marine mammals, stipulates the duties of police and veterinary authorities with respect to injured or sick animals, which they must ensure are killed if their suffering would be prolonged by being kept alive. In one recent case when an injured pilot whale was found swimming with its intestines hanging out of the wound, veterinary authorities advised that the harpoon be used to secure the whale, under police supervision, after which it was immediately slaughtered in the traditional manner. The whaling spear The whaling spear (in Faroese hvalváknið, - see Figure 2), is a c. 40 cm long and 5 cm wide double-edged metal blade, c. 6 mm thick in the centre, and pointed at the top, attached to a c. 2 m long and 4 cm thick wooden pole and equipped with a rope. The spear was used, as mentioned above, in connection with the herding of a school of whales. Just before the school reached the shore, one of the whales in the back of the school was prodded with the spear in order to rush it and the rest of the school with it. This was supposed to ensure that the whales would strand as high up on the shore as possible, where they could then be swiftly slaughtered with knives. As well as this, the spear was also used for killing directly when whales could not be properly beached or where the sea bed conditions were such that whales could not be hauled ashore. The spear was used to pierce the whale in the heart. But as the spear was often thrown from a distance of several metres, the accuracy of the strike was not always good.