When the Wholesome Façade Cracks: Fuglafjørður’s Grind Exposes the Truth

Commentary by Valentina Crast, Campaign Director at Sea Shepherd

285 Pilot whales were killed September 13th in Fuglafjørður, Faroe Islands

When Tórshavn municipality said no thanks to taking more whale meat after the Fuglafjørður grind on September 13th, the carefully painted picture of a wholesome, God-given, sustainable tradition cracked wide open. That pretty narrative “free local food, accepted humbly and only in moderation” doesn’t hold. What spills out is greed. Overexploitation. The ugly reality that more always wants more.

This weekend marked the 10th grind of the year. A pod of pilot whales was spotted off the coast, initially assessed at 60–70 individuals. Later, we learned it was a super pod of probably 400+ whales. In the end, 285 were chased and killed—not counting unborn calves and very young juveniles—in one of the most disorganized scenes I’ve seen in a very long time.

Already, two problems are screaming for attention.

First: These assessments are consistently way off—by 100–300% or more. It isn’t a small mistake. Permission to hunt was given based on that incorrect number. Even the local sheriff who authorized the hunt admitted: “Had I known the grind was so large, I would hardly have given permission to hold it.”

Why? Because chasing and splitting a pod this size creates unbearable trauma. Pilot whales are tightly bonded. Splitting them is chaos. Many beach themselves and die in panic. And let’s be honest—he also knew he didn’t have enough men on the beaches. That’s why the killing turned into a frantic, drawn-out horror scene—1.5 hours from first stab to last breath. Too few men, moving frantically, stabbing anything that moved.

Imagine being one of those whales: a mother, or one of the many calves, thrashing in the blood of your family, panicking, waiting for someone to cut you open. No one in their right mind would call that “sustainable.”

So here’s my speculation: Are the whalers lying about pod sizes to get approval? Or are they so incompetent they shouldn’t be allowed to make those calls at all? Both options are horrifying. But one of them must be true.

The killing lasted over an hour and half. Some whalers killed “professionally,” others did not.

Second: The freezer situation. Before Fuglafjørður, there had already been 9 grinds this year—646 whales and white-sided dolphins killed (not including fetuses or calves). Meat and blubber had been shuffled to other towns to avoid the obvious: there’s already too much.

Here’s a local quote after the kill: “Of course you say yes. We have to help each other distribute the grind. Anything else is unthinkable. The grind must and shall be distributed.”

This is cultural pressure in action. You must accept the meat—not because you need it, but because refusing would expose the waste. Over the years, people have whispered about feeling pressured to accept shares. It’s rarely discussed openly, but it’s there. And it shows how the public narrative is manipulated: “Look, there’s never waste!”—when in reality, there’s fear of saying no.

Tórshavn’s mayor is under fire for refusing 100 whales. Why? Because she said they already had enough—they had their own recent grind and shares from two others. That simple honesty ripped the mask off.

Let’s look at the numbers conservatively:

• Average pilot whale weight: 1300 kg

• Assume 50 % edible meat and blubber

• Total animals killed this year (not counting fetuses/juveniles): 931

That’s 931 x 1300, cut in half = 605,150kg. Divided among 55,000 people that equals approximately 11kg/person. But only 13% of the population eats whale meat weekly, so their share jumps to 84kg/person.

Eighty-four kilos of mercury-laden whale meat and blubber per consumer. Who eats that much toxic meat? And how many sheds and freezers are packed with this stuff? Anyone can see something doesn’t add up. And what about the money? Surprisingly a city council member, furious at Tórshavn’s refusal, stated that the value of these animals is around 5 million kroner.

Why does that matter for something that’s not supposed to be commercialized? Casually attaching a price tag displays what’s really happening: monetization hidden under “tradition.”

Meanwhile, Faroese authorities continue to advise against eating whale meat for health reasons, mercury, PCBs, the works. Yet they enable and even facilitate its distribution. As a nurse, the thought of this toxic meat reaching nursing homes is mind boggling.  

This is why international organizations cover these hunts. The grind today is not the grind of the past. It’s not the romanticized, sustainable, communal “harvest”. It’s cultural pressure. It’s overexploitation, hidden behind complicated numbers. It’s authorities looking the other way while meat is sold quietly in shops and restaurants for profit. And it’s the deliberate desensitization of children. Kids standing on blood-soaked shores, watching empathy for living beings erode in real time.

Pregnant whales. Nursing calves. Dead on the harbor concrete. A physical testament to population destruction, dismissed with outdated data.

This weekend’s chaos should make everyone stop and really look at what’s happening. Not the myth. The reality. And I hope some of you reading this feel your empathy stir—because these animals need protectors, and Faroese society needs better choices.

A pregnant Pilot whale killed with her unborn calf.

Read more about the 10th grind of 2025 on the Sea Shepherd Global website: Tenth Pilot Whale Hunt of 2025: Chaos & Waste