Protecting whales and dolphins has always been at the heart of Sea Shepherd‘s mission. It’s more than just a cause—it’s a responsibility that requires deep reflection, humility, and a willingness to adapt to circumstances and time. The Faroe Islands hold a unique place in this work, where tradition meets change and global advocacy intersects with […]
Tag: whales

Five years, multiple deaths: what is happening at the home of the last captive whales in Canada?
On the southern shores of the Niagara River, a few hundred feet from the thundering falls, sits Marineland of Canada – an amusement park, zoo, aquarium and forest occupying nearly 1,000 acres of land (400 hectares). Over the years, millions of people have clamoured to view the park’s 4,000 animals, including its prized walruses, orcas, […]

‘They’re stuck’: Cape Cod seeing more whale, turtle and dolphin strandings
While Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is known as a popular vacation destination in the north-east US, it has built a reputation for an entirely different reason this year: animal strandings. Dolphins, whales, seals and turtles are turning up in large numbers on the beaches of the famous peninsula in a phenomenon that has experts scrambling to […]

‘Extraordinary longevity’: great whales can live a lot longer than we thought – if we leave them alone
In Moby-Dick, Herman Melville’s epic novel of 1851, the author asks if whales would survive the remorseless human hunt. Yes, he says, as he foresees a future flooded world in which the whale would outlive us and “spout his frothed defiance to the skies”. Moby Dick was a grizzled old sperm whale that had miraculously […]

Dissecting the world’s rarest whale – in pictures
Conservationists and scientists in New Zealand were astonished to find the world’s rarest whale washed ashore in the South Island in July. As only the seventh spade-toothed whale identified, and with none ever seen alive, this month saw the first dissection of a complete specimen Rangers in New Zealand inspect a beaked whale, believed to […]

Right Whales Can Live 130 Years or Longer, Research Finds
Scientists have estimated that bowhead whales — the longest-living whale species — can live more than 200 years. It was once thought that the bowhead’s cousin, the right whale, had an average lifespan of about 70 to 80 years, but new research has revised that estimate to more than 130 years — nearly twice as […]

Hundreds of whales to be harpooned as Iceland issues new hunting licenses
On Dec. 6, Iceland‘s caretaker government announced it had issued five-year licenses to hunt fin and minke whales in Icelandic waters. It granted the fin whale hunting license to Hvalur hf., the country’s only remaining fin-whaling company, run by billionaire Kristján Loftsson, and the minke-hunting permit to a ship owned by Tjaldtangi ehf., a whaling […]

Sea Shepherd’s Valentina Crast Speaks Out Against Whale Hunts
Sea Shepherd’s Faroe Islands Director, Valentina Crast, joined an expert panel on November 25, 2024, as part of the American Bar Association’s inaugural “Blue Crimes Webinar Series.” This session, titled “Legality of Dolphin and Whale Hunts,” examined the legal, ethical, and environmental implications of cetacean hunts worldwide. The event launched a three-part series addressing crimes […]