The North Atlantic Fisheries, 1100-1976 - University of Hull

The pilot and bottlenose whaling statistics show a rhythmic,
oscillating occurrence of grinds in Faroese waters, with the length of one
period lasting about 100-110 years. Different studies have demonstrated
that the abundance of marine species taken by the Faroe Islanders
(seabird species, pilot and bottlenose whales, cod and herring) has
changed over the centuries according to the same oscillatory rhythm as
the climate and seems to depend on the variability of the current
system. 109
The Quantity of Whales Landed
For the period 1584-1641 the whaling statistics are incomplete, and a gap
exists for the period 1641-1708. Therefore, for the period 1584-1708
there exists information for only 43 grinds composed of 5,318 whales. In
all, for the period 1709-1995 the hunting statistics give information
about 1,720 long-finned pilot whale schools, grinds, composed of
242,217 pilot whales (Fig. I; Table I). This works out at an average of
844 whales annually for the nearly three hundred year period 1709-1995.
They have appeared as 0-23 grinds annually, 6.9 on average and ranging
in annual number from zero to 4,475 whales (in 1941). In three different
years (1844, 1939, and 1941), the number of pilot whales landed
exceeded 3,000 whales; in 25 years, more than 2,000 whales were
harvested, while one third of the years have resulted in more than 1,000
whales landed. On the other hand, there have been 44 years in which it
has not been possible to land any grind. The last “grind-free” year was
1927.
In all, a total of 816 bottlenose whales were recorded during the
period 1584-1995. Of these, 653 were landed, 71 were reported as found
dead, and 92 shot offshore. Only 21 were reported from the period
1584-1641, resulting in a total of 795 from 1709-1995, of which 632
were landed (Fig. II; Table II). It is worth noting that the dead whales
were found in the peak period of Norwegian offshore hunting in the
middle and later part of the nineteenth century. This period was also the
time offshore whaling increased off the Faroes. 110 Some of the dead
bottlenose whales found may have been fatally wounded in the offshore
commercial whaling. 111
109 D. Bloch et al., 1996; K. Hoydal & L. Lastein, 1993. A. Reinert, 1976.
110 Bloch et al., 1996.
111 A. Ohlin, 1895.
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