It’s about seal hunting but Angry Inuk is worth a watch for understanding some of the context about traditional hunting vs reflexive anger and revulsion.
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The hunt claims roughly one percent of the population of pilot whales in the region, a number which is considered sustainable by most experts, and the government heavily regulates it. Everyone who participates gets a share, which helps keep them fed throughout the year.
This isn’t something they’re doing for sport. It’s a food harvest, and a hell of a lot more humane and sustainable than most of what you’ll find in an American grocery store. Heri from Tyr has a video where he talks about it:
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ya I guess everyone outraged here is vegan and 100-mile organic or something? 
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They’re whales, not sardines. They can have things like cultures and distinct dialects. How many of those have been wiped out while we only care about whether the species will survive? How much are they affected by us? I very much doubt it has been fully considered – and comments like yours certainly do not reassure me that people care.
I get traditional whaling, that’s how people survived. But not all traditions need continuing.
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Maybe look into how the peoples doing this talk about it? It has surely been fully considered, over centuries.
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I kinda don’t give a shit about carving out a weird exception for traditional hunting when it involves the brutal murder of many sapient and sentient beings. ‘Tradition’ in this case can go fuck itself, and if a culture depends on it for its existence, that culture deserves to be consigned to the dustbin of history, along with every other bit of human tradition that involves extreme cruelty.
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I hope you’re on the front lines of dismantling the colonial occupations that span the globe then!
Whataboutism don’t fly here.
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When you want to consign a culture to the dustbin of history, consider how much that aligns with what the colonisers want(ed) too.
So I suppose opposing e.g. female genital mutilation is a “colonial” position as well? How much cruelty is allowable under your ethos?
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Whataboutism don’t fly here.
It’s not whataboutism. It’s a direct parallel, using a different example meant to demonstrate the fallacy of your position, commonly called a reductio ad absurdum argument
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Are you serious? People centuries ago didn’t even realize extinction was a thing! Any look at our oceans will show how little conservation was a concern.
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false
When Cuvier claimed fossils were of species no longer extant, it was considered a new idea and lots of people did not believe him. Lewis and Clark were told to watch out for mastodons on the idea they must live somewhere. But tell you what, if you have an actual reference, I’ll listen. Give me something from the 1800s concerned about the impact of whaling on their cultural groups and what trauma they might face.
Just saying “false” tells me nothing on its own.
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It seems like you’re approaching everything from a western/colonial framework, but many Indigenous nations have practices for sustainable hunting that are accompanied by stories that explain how the practices came to be from experience. I invite you to watch the documentary I linked to above to start with, it’s not the identical context but relevant.
It’s the cruelty that’s the problem, not whether or not the practice is sustainable. There is no humane method to hunt whales, and neither is there a legitimate reason to do so. “But it’s our tradition” don’t cut it.
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Yeah, I have seen enough defences and details of seal hunting – including being at an actual place that processed them – not to have stomach to see more, especially since the fact that it’s a different animal extremely limits its relevance. My whole point is that whales aren’t just any other animal.
I will repeat that I get traditional whaling, that’s how people survived. But not all traditions need continuing. The Faroese are smart enough to get by without it, just as we should be smart enough to get by without many of our more damaging traditions. You can talk about the colonialist implications of who gets to decide for whom, for sure, but that doesn’t change whether it’s awful.
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Dietary recommendations regarding pilot whale meat and blubber in the Faroe Islands
For centuries the pilot whale has been an important part Faroese life – both in regard to food and culture. However, studies dating back to 1977 have shown an increase in contamination of the meat, blubber, liver and kidneys of pilot whales. Several birth cohorts have been established in the Faroes in order to discover the health effects related to mercury and organchlorine exposure. In short the results have so far shown that: mercury from pilot whale meat adversely affects the foetal development of the nervous system; the mercury effect is still detectable during adolescence; the mercury from the maternal diet affects the blood pressure of the children; the contaminants of the blubber adversely affect the immune system so that the children react more poorly to immunizations; contaminants in pilot whales appear to increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease in those who often eat pilot whale; the risk of hypertension and arteriosclerosis of the carotid arteries is increased in adults who have an increased exposure to mercury; septuagenarians with type 2 diabetes or impaired fasting glycaemia tended to have higher PCB concentrations and higher past intake of traditional foods, especially during childhood and adolescence. Also impaired insulin secretion appears to constitute an important part of the type 2 diabetes pathogenesis associated with exposure to persistent lipophilic food contaminants. From the latest research results, the authors consider that the conclusion from a human health perspective must be to recommend that pilot whale is no longer used for human consumption.
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Colonial capitalism loves to poison non-market food sources and point to it to justify forcing people toward market-based foods, especially coupled with “it’s for your own good” messaging. No surprise!
