In the Faroe Islands it is legal and a tradition to catch pilot whales. If a bunch of whales are observed close to the coast, it is driven into one of the 23 approved whale bays. Here the whole flock is killed with knives. When the whales are lifted up on the quay, they are slaughtered.
The catch is divided according to an intricate, traditional distribution system between the participants in the hunt and the local residents of the whale bay and people from the local area.
Pilot whaling is subject to Faroese legislation, which sets the framework for the catching, killing methods and permitted equipment. The average annual catch is about 900 pilot whales, which corresponds to approximately 500 tons of whale meat and blubber. It accounts for about 30 percent of total local meat production in the Faroe Islands.
