A comparison of pilot Whale drives in Newfoundland and the Faroe Islands

Abstract

The long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas) is a common cetacean species in the North Atlantic Ocean and has been hunted by humans for food and oil for many centuries. A common hunting method used by pilot whalers has been to initiate a ‘drive’ in which the whales are surrounded by boats and driven onto the shore or into the shallow water, then killed. This method uses the natural herding instinct of the pilot whales to the whalers' advantage and entire pods are often taken at once. These pilot whale drives have historically occurred throughout the inhabited regions of both sides of the North Atlantic but by the mid-twentieth century were only occurring in two locations: the Faroe Islands and Newfoundland. Canada's 1972 ban on commercial whaling put an end to the Newfoundland pilot whale drive, leaving the Faroes as the North Atlantic's lone whale-driving society. After discussing both pilot whale drives, this paper compares the Faroese and Newfoundland whaling communities and examines reasons why the whale drive has continued in the Faroes but has been ended in Newfoundland.