Hunting and killing methods have been improved to ensure as little harm to the whales as possible.
Apart from the … hunting and the killing.
Why even hunt whales in the first place? Sure, it’s one big food source when you snag one, but people who have tried whale say it’s bland and uninteresting. It’s just a bunch of fat. And it takes a lot of effort to kill it, haul it, parse it out, etc.
Fish farms give you much more good quality meat without all of the species endangerment.
Tradition, one of the worst reasons on earth to do anything.
There are certain very small remote communities in the far north that are isolated and hard to reach. Whale and seal hunting provides a guaranteed food source for these small communities so that they don’t have to depend on incredibly expensive (both resource and moneywise) imports. The Faroe Islands is not one of those places because obviously a cruise ship can easily get to it.
I have been to Iceland and Greenland and Alaska and Norway, etc. I promise you there is no utilitarian need to hunt whales in any of these places. They all have grocery stores where you can buy pineapples for reasonable prices.
We can argue tradition, but there is no utility here.
I mean, do they?
like not every place has a grocery store that’s easy to get to
I have lived in two of those places for years and I can tell you that you have no idea what you’re talking about.
For example, Fairbanks is only one third of the way up Alaska. There’s still so much left north of it.
It’s definitely not just fatty and bland. I’ve had it on Svalbard, where there’s no farming or husbandry going on because it’s too far up north.
Whale tastes a lot like beef, so yeah, might as well have that instead.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/ambergris
Ambergris, The Rare ‘Whale Vomit’ Used In Perfume
We just line them up against the wall and shoot them in the blowhole. It’s the most humane way, really. /s
The cruise line is concerned about sustainability. That’s rich.
The whole idea of the article is pr marketing by the cruise ship, lol.
Their comments are PR mitigation. Pulling up to the whale butchering was definitely not a PR stunt.
Yeah, sustainability of their revenue stream.
Sustainability of the things that entertain their passengers so the cruise line can continue to make more money.
The cruise line is concerned about upsetting their passengers, that is all.
Yes, it is rich. Rich people pretending to be responsible.
Cruises aren’t that expensive. But your point stands.
Depends on the cruise. There are some really expensive cruise lines out there.
Sure, I’m just saying that just because it’s a cruise line doesn’t mean the passengers are rich. It can cost <$1k or so for a weeklong cruise, which is cheaper than a lot of vacations.
$1k USD is over a year’s wages for someone at the global poverty line.
Just because it’s cheaper than other more expensive alternatives doesn’t mean it’s not expensive and extravagant. It’s also a lot more polluting than some of your more expensive vacations you could compare it to; so in reality, it’s not actually cheaper, it just externalizes some of the costs on to the environment (or, the rest of humanity).
Cruiselines should stop going to Faroe until the hunts stop, or the cruiselines should shut the f up. Its just lip service without tangible action.
Cruiselines should f off anyway, because we’re at the start of an ever growing climate crisis and cruise ships are the worst carbon emitters of all passenger transports. Those meat eating hypocrites aboard need a lesson in how we treat animals and the planet these days.
meat eating hypocrites
Oh brother, here we go with the malnourished vegans again…I’m with you on the “fuck off cruiselines” bit, but for fucks sake…
Read and weep https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food
Watch and seethe https://youtu.be/Oi3e3PlEJAs
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/Oi3e3PlEJAs
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Jesus lol this almost sounds like a south park episode
Southpark predicted this timeline
I read this as:
Wealthy, coddled city-dwellers—for each of whom thousands of animals, bred for fatness and compliance, are raised in factories and systematically slaughtered—upset to witness sustainable, traditional harvest practices. Floating corporate safety bubble apologises for failing to protect their naivete.
In completely unrelated news, some whales seem to be attacking boats/yachts. How weird! Why could this be?
Are you talking about the orcas that are doing it apparently for shits and giggles or is there bigger underwater uprising on the way?
Well yeah that is what I was talking about, though the articles I saw didn‘t mention any reason at all and if they had said “shits and giggles” I‘d be even more sceptical of that, since I don‘t think animals really fight without a reason.
Now here is where we get to my wild conspiracy theory, I think aquatic species may not like boats, who they can see killing their species or hunting their food sources. Then they react to a predator, so either they flee or attack. Orcas being some of the bigger ones are probably the few who stand any chance whatsoever fighting, so they might try sometimes.
Edit: Ok I just googled around and saw the articles you mentioned saying they do it for fun, I also found this: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/11/the-orca-uprising-whales-are-ramming-boats-but-are-they-inspired-by-revenge-grief-or-memory
Which explains why it may be playful behaviour, but also made me feel a bit more like at least I‘m not the only one who sees this other possibility too. It also gave me more of an idea of why I might want to see it this way (I think there is a lot of injustice happening and I feel powerless).
Orcas absolutely do shit like that for fun. They play with their food, like throwing a seal around to each other before killing and eating it.
This is new and different from before, though. If it was just for fun this wouldn’t be newsworthy because it would have already been happening.
Mister Nimbus has had enough!
I mean, the cruise ship and its inhabitants are “guests” so I’m not sure where they get off telling the locals what to do?
While I certainly don’t condone hunting and killing whales (I also don’t eat meat for the same reasons, ie. animals shouldn’t have to suffer just so they can tantalize our taste buds), if these are local customs and it’s not harming the environment then maybe people shouldn’t be all high-and-mighty about it. Especially if they are chowing down on veal, lamb, or any meat for their meals.
Considering where these people live, I’m guessing historically speaking being fully vegetarian may not have been an option, so I wouldn’t really judge them too harshly for customs that were likely built around survival as much as anything else. But maybe I’m off base, just guessing really.
i agree. some values are universal, like what should be considered cruel, but slaughtering pigs is pretty cruel too (i eat them anyways!). to me, what’s funny here is how privileged first world people just hate to see how the hot dog is made, so to speak.
it’s like privileged people hating to simply see homeless people in cities even though the system that makes people homeless is necessary to keep the high property values that they benefit from. the mere witness of the cruelty we benefit from in modern society makes the privileged one feel like a victim.
Yeah, I’m a vegan but I don’t bother telling you bloodmouths what I really think of you. It won’t change your mind and will only make me frustrated if I let myself give a shit.
Mockery is much better than outrage.
Faroe also hunts puffins. Puffins are best bird. There’s literally no reason.
tasty
Often the only reason needed
Jesus. This sounds like it came straight from the Onion
The people killin the whales sure aint gonna apologize for it
Oh god… lolz
Great news if you hate people who go on cruises AND whales 👍
For a moment I thought the whales were somehow killed by the cruise ship…
