Passengers Horrified As Cruise Sails Into 'Distressing' Whale Massacre

A cruise line company has issued an apology to customers after their journey coincided with a whale hunt.

As the Ambassador cruise ship arrived in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, on Sunday, July 9, they were met with the culmination of a hunt of 78 pilot whales in the port.

"We were incredibly disappointed that this hunt occurred," a spokesperson for Ambassador Cruise Line told Newsweek. "Particularly at a time when our ship was in port and have offered our sincere apologies to all those onboard who may have witnessed this distressing occurrence."

The travelers arrived as the Tórshavn grindadráp hunt was taking place. Grindadráp is a Faroese term translating as "grind" meaning whale, and "dráp" meaning slaughter.

There is a long history of pilot whale and dolphin hunting in the Faroe Islands, deeply rooted in cultural traditions that go back several centuries. The hunts occur throughout the year and can take place at any time.

The practice involves local residents driving and herding pods of pilot whales toward the shores of designated bays or fjords.

Once they reach the shallow waters, whales are driven onto the beach where waiting hunters kill them using knives and hooks.

Faroe Islands Chief Adviser of Foreign Policy & Security Svein Magnason told Newsweek: "The practice of hunting pilot whales is regulated by law and organized to ensure the safety of participants and compliance with animal welfare legislation. Based on scientific research and continued monitoring, pilot whaling in the Faroe Islands is considered sustainable."

In 2021, the Faroese government was forced to launch a review after it was found that 1,423 dolphins were killed in just one hunt. Following this, they announced an annual catch limit of 500 dolphins. Pilot whales are also a protected species in the EU.

"We are utterly opposed to the commercial hunting of whales and dolphins in the Faroes," said Ambassador Cruise Line. "While traditional hunts of this type have taken place for many years in the Faroe Islands to sustain local communities, we strongly object to this outdated practice, which we believe is now becoming commercial, with meats sold in local supermarkets, for example."

"We don't support the hunt by coming here. We'll always use it as an opportunity to remind the authorities that tourists want to marvel at the wildlife and not to watch it being killed," they continued. "At some point, the long-term importance of tourist income will be recognized as being more sustainable, uncontroversial and appealing than an activity which has earned nothing for the Faroes other than condemnation globally."

Ambassador Cruise Line works in partnership with whale conservation charity ORCA, and two of their ocean experts were on deck at the time as over 40 boats and a helicopter herded and killed whales, including small calves, leaving the water blood red.

"It is a harrowing and upsetting thing for guests onboard to have witnessed, but it really drives home the reality of these hunts. Whales and dolphins around the Faroe Islands are under threat and understanding the impact that whaling has on their population is crucial to safeguarding them for the future," Sally Hamilton, CEO of ORCA, told Newsweek.

"Thanks to the determination of companies like Ambassador, ORCA has a platform monitor these vulnerable animals and to evidence the cruelty and brutality of this hunt. Incidents like this reveal a huge disconnect between what tourists want to see in terms of wildlife and the realities of the hunt. That is something the Faroes have to resolve if it sees tourism as an important, sustainable and uncontroversial revenue stream," she said.

The pilot whale is a marine mammal that belongs to the same family as dolphins and orcas. Known for social behavior and their distinctive flat face and curved pectoral fin, they are found in the North Atlantic Ocean including waters around the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway and the British Isles.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the long and short finned pilot whales as "data deficient," meaning that there is not sufficient information to accurately give them a population status.

"Our partnership with ORCA enables them to collect data around the Faroes from on board our ships, and to monitor the animals that are being hunted and killed, as has been the case here. This data is used to establish the impact of the hunts on pilot whales and other species in this little studied region," said the Ambassador Cruise Line.

"Pilot whaling continues to be a non-commercial, community-based activity. Catches are distributed among participants and local communities free of charge and are utilized for food," said Magnason, in defense of the practice.

He explained: "International law and agreements stress the need for states to cooperate on the management of marine mammals. The Faroe Islands recognize the importance of working through appropriate international organizations for the conservation, management and study of whales."