Portal:Cetaceans/Selected Article/May, 2007

Atlantic White-sided Dolphin caught in a drive hunt in Hvalba on the Faroe Islands being taken away with a forklift

Dolphin drive hunting, also called dolphin drive fishing, is a method of hunting dolphins and occasionally other small cetaceans by driving them together with boats and then usually into a bay or onto a beach. Their escape is prevented by closing off the route to the open sea or ocean with boats and nets. Dolphins are hunted this way in several places around the world. The largest number of dolphins are hunted using this method in Japan, however the practice also occurs on the Solomon Islands, the Faroe Islands and Peru. Dolphins are mostly hunted and killed for their meat; some are captured and end up in dolphinariums.

Despite the controversial nature of the hunt resulting in international criticism and the possible health risk that the often polluted meat causes, many thousands of dolphins are killed in drive hunts each year.

More on Dolphin drive hunting