All articles tagged with #sea shepherd
On Wednesday, over 700 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were herded into shallow bays and slaughtered during the Faroe Islands’ Grindadráp, with reports of equipment shortages forcing knife killings and witnesses describing prolonged suffering; activists say it constitutes cruelty rather than culture and urge bans, while authorities defend the practice as legally regulated.
More than 700 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were driven ashore and killed across three hunts in the Faroe Islands in one day, totaling 706 deaths and exceeding two-thirds of last year’s annual figure; the largest drive occurred in Tórshavn with 406 fatalities. Equipment shortages, including spinal lances, led to killings with knives and reports of prolonged suffering. Sea Shepherd observers were arrested while documenting the hunts, drawing international condemnation. Faroese authorities defend the practice as a centuries-old tradition regulated by law, while conservation groups urge an end to the hunts and call for action from European governments.
Mexican officials and Sea Shepherd are launching a search expedition to locate the few remaining vaquita marina, the world’s most endangered marine mammal, in the Gulf of California. The elusive porpoises are threatened by illegal gillnet fishing, which also impedes population calculations. The expedition will use binoculars, sighting devices, and acoustic monitors to try to pinpoint the location of the vaquitas. The last sighting expedition in 2021 yielded probable sightings of between 5 and 13 vaquitas, a decline from the previous survey in 2019.