Source: Whales And Whaling - In The Faroe Islands, published by The Faroe Islands Department of Fisheries, 1993

Pilot Whaling Today

The pilot whale drive takes place only when a school of pilot whales has been sighted close to shore and conditions are right to drive it. Despite its unpredictable nature, pilot whaling brings into play a well-organised system of driving a school of pilot whales which has developed over the centuries, and which is controlled by governmental regulations. Employers usually make allowances for members of their staff to leave their jobs in order to join in a pilot whale drive, and this helps to ensure that enough people are on hand to help with the work involved. A pilot whale drive is carried out in the following stages:

1. Sighting a school - sending the message
A school is seen from a local fishing boat, or from land. If conditions are right, a decision is made to drive the whales into the most suitable (often the closest) of the 21 authorized whaling bays. The message is sent, by radio and telephone, to the elected pilot whaling officials and the district sheriff, and as widely and quickly as possible in the local community so that enough men and boats can join in the drive.

A school of pilot whales is not usually driven from a distance of more than 1 or 2 nautical miles from the coast. Drives take place at any time of the year, although most are in the summer months when the days are long, weather conditions are often better, and there is usually a greater abundance of the pilot whale prey, the squid.

2. Driving the school
When enough boats have reached the school, they gather in a wide semi-circle behind the whales and slowly and quietly begin to drive them towards the chosen bay. When they have come close to the location where the whales will be beached, the school is sometimes held for a while to wait for the best tides and currents.

3. Beaching the school
When the pilot whaling foreman gives the signal, the whales are urged to swim rapidly towards the beach. This is done with the help of loose stones and stones attached to lines which are thrown into the water behind the whales in order to drive them forward. An echo sounder is sometimes also used to herd them swiftly. The smallest boats remain directly behind the school, with the larger boats further back.

The whales move very quickly at this stage, taking a surge of water with them up to the shore, stranding themselves. A group of whales which cannot be beached in this manner must be driven out to sea again.

4. Killing the whales
While the whales are being driven, men gather on the shore to wait for them to be beached. Their job is then to kill the whales quickly, and they do so by serving the major blood vessels in the neck. Blood pressure drops rapidly and the whale loses consciousness in a matter of seconds, dying from exsanguination. Naturally enough, this turns the sea quite red with blood.

5. Assessing the catch
Once the drive and kill are over, the whale carcasses are moved to the nearest quay where they are assessed, prior to butchering. The whales' abdomens are opened to cool the carcasses so the meat does not spoil, but otherwise they remian untouched and guarded by officials. T traditional measuring rod is used by the officially-appointed assessors, who number the whales, and assess them according to the traditional skinn measurement - one skinn is equal to c.38 kilos of meat and 34 kilos of blubber. An average sized pilot whale measures 6 skinn.

6. Sharing the catch
A few hours usually pass between the end of the drive and the assessment, and the pilot when the shares of the catch are announced by the district sheriff. The sheriff is responsible for calculating the number and size of the shares for each person. Anyone registered with the sheriff is entitled to a share, and in most places this usually includes not only the participants in the drive, but all residents of the district, from the oldest citizens to newborn babies. A ticket is then isued which states the amount of the share, and the number of the whale from which the allotted share of meat and blubber must then be collected.