Breaking: Police Charges Filed in Faroe Islands Against Grind Whalers Halts Hunts

Eighteen months after Sea Shepherd filed a detailed police report on a grind in which dozens of whales were left alive in shallow water in violation of Faroese law, that complaint has now led to formal police charges against the whalers. As a result, the grind foremen have announced there will be no further hunts in the northern islands until the case is resolved.

Commentary by Valentina Crast, Faroes Island Campaign Lead for Sea Shepherd. 

Eighteen months ago, Sea Shepherd filed a police report concerning a grind in which whalers held an exhausted pod of pilot whales for hours while participants attended a local festival. When the killing finally began, 138 whales were slaughtered, and afterwards the whalers left the site and abandoned 90 surviving whales in shallow water.

For the next 27 hours, Sea Shepherd filmed the surviving whales in a state of extreme trauma and distress: struggling to breathe, trapped in dangerously shallow water, repeatedly attempting to beach themselves, and at constant risk of drowning. In the end, all but one managed to fight their way back to deep water (read more here).

What happened that day was not a matter of interpretation. It was a direct and unambiguous violation of Faroese grind law.

As I stated recently in a radio interview on KVF, the Faroese national broadcaster, this isn’t an opinion or a complex analysis. The law explicitly states that no whales may be left behind in shallow waters after a kill. This case clearly meets that definition.

So the charges were not only justified, they were necessary.

But now the question is, what happens next?

The whaling association has long shown an inability to be self-critical. Their pattern is consistent: They believe their actions are inherently right; any critic is labelled a terrorist or a traitor; and if the law shows their actions were unlawful, then the law must be changed. Everything must adapt except them.

Now, the grind foremen have announced that there will be no grind in the northern islands until this case is resolved. Some may view this as a victory. But in reality, it is a pressure tactic.

They are sending a message to the police, the politicians, and the public: “If you criticize us or try to hold us accountable, we will withhold whale meat and suspend what we call our cultural right.”

While many of us would welcome an end to the grind, that is not what this is. This is an ultimatum designed to intimidate critics, influence political decision-making, and undermine the legal process. And the truth is, many people in the Faroe Islands, including members of parliament, still support the killing of pilot whales. The idea that the grind could be halted because of a police report filed by Sea Shepherd is politically explosive. That increases the risk of interference and pressure to let the charges quietly fade away.

If that happens, the outcome is clear: the whaling association’s belief that they stand above the law will be reinforced, not challenged.

This moment is undeniably the product of years of documentation, activism, and public pressure. It is a sign of possible change, but it is also a showdown. And it is one the whales, and those who defend them, could still lose. Everything now depends on the police and the prosecutor. Will they hold their ground?

Because there is no doubt: the law was broken that day. If the charges are dropped or minimized, the whaling association will emerge emboldened.

Hoping for the best while preparing for the worst is not a defeatist mindset. It is simply what experience has taught us when dealing with the grind.

Follow the latest updates on Sea Shepherd's Living Fjords Campaign here.