Letter: Tourist potential blighted by Faroese 'sport'

ANDREW BIBBY'S travel feature on the Faroe islands ('The lonely seas and the skua', Sunday Review, 28 August) conveniently omits any mention of the one thing for which the Faroese are (in)famous - the brutal and unnecessary slaughter of about 1,500 pilot whales each year.

The killing is opportunistic and can happen at any time of the year, so tourists can and frequently do witness the slaughter. This hardly makes it an ideal holiday destination.

It is impossible that Mr Bibby could have been unaware of Faroese pilot whaling, particularly as only a month ago the islanders killed more than 600 whales in one day, the biggest single kill in 50 years.

The Faroe islands have great potential for a flourishing whale-watching industry, as in neighbouring Iceland, but no nature lover is likely to set foot in a country that kills whales almost as a sport. Andrew Bibby is wrong when he says that tourism 'could arguably bring an end to the island's problems'. While the Faroese continue to slaughter whales their problems have only just begun.

Samantha Arditti

Pilot Whale Campaign

London EC1