July 7, 2023

We have not yet arrived at the Faroe Islands and already the Faroese government is getting all nervous and dramatic in anticipation of our approach.

Høgni Hoydal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign affairs, Industry and Trade said today that the crew of the John Paul DeJoria will be in serious trouble if the ship enters the external maritime jurisdiction. 

Wow, serious trouble! How many times have we heard that before?

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Labour, Høgni Hoydal, has today decided to prohibit the ship John Paul De Joria from entering the external maritime jurisdiction of the Faroe Islands.”

Our response is to claim the right of innocent passage.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Article 19 defines innocent passage as passage that is not prejudicial to the peace, good order and security of the coastal state.

Article 24 of UNCLOS cites that coastal states must not hamper passage by imposing any requirements which would have the effect of denying or impairing the right of passage.

According to the Faroese government this decision is taken as an authority in the announcement on navigation in the sea, which allows the national pilot to impose a ban on certain ships under a foreign flag from entering the external maritime domain, if persons, companies or associations, to which the ship is bound, have made threats to commit an offense under Faroese law, or engage in illegal activity in Faroese maritime jurisdiction.

We have not made threats to break any laws in the Faroe Islands nor have we made threats to engage in any illegal activity in the Faroese maritime jurisdiction.

The Captain Paul Watson Foundation and the crew of the Neptune’s Navy ship John Paul DeJoria are simply opposing the illegal mass slaughter of pilot whales and dolphins if such an illegal mass slaughter should take place.

We do not view the defense of innocent dolphins and pilot whales being illegally slaughtered as a crime. We cannot ethically tolerate the wiping out of entire family pods of cetaceans for a perverse blood sport by people demonstrating such a lack of mercy and empathy.

According to the government, the prohibition will be imposed, because the authority for the crew on the ship has generally announced that the plan for the trip to the Faroe Islands is to commit a conflict, i.e to engage in frame driving, which cannot be compared to a harmless cruise.

We have never announced a plan to create a conflict. We have announced our intentions of opposing an illegal and grossly inhumane massacre of pilot whales and dolphins. We have no intention of causing injury or damage to people or property. And we don’t even know what “frame driving” is.

One of the purposes of our visit to the Faroes is documentation. The ship carries a five-person professional documentary crew. All activities will be fully documented. It is our intention to once again expose the illegality and the cruelty of the Grindadrap to the world.

We have been to the Faroe Islands many times in the past and we have indeed intervened in the past to save lives when and where we can. This heartlessly cruel massacre must end and in addition to taking our ship to the Faroe Islands, we are beginning an international project to boycott Faroese fish products and Faroese tourism. The slaughter in the Faroes is secondary only to our opposition to the illegal slaughter of endangered Fin whales in Iceland and when Icelandic whaling is ended, the brutal Faroese massacres will become our primary concern.

What is the graver concern here? Our ship entering Faroese waters OR the disgracefully cruel obscenely bloody mass slaughter of entire families of pilot whales and dolphins. How many more images of fetuses ripped from the bodies of pregnant mothers, how many more images of children poking the eyeballs out of dead dolphins or knocking out their teeth, how many more images of blood-filled bays and recordings of agonizing screams of pain must we endure before this hellish evil national abomination is ended forever?

We are not the criminals here. We are not the terrorists. We are compassion in opposition to sadistic slaughter. We are empathy in opposition to gross insensitivity and lack of remorse. We are advocates of law against people in blatant violation of European law who claim exemption as some sort of tribal entitlement.

Opposing bloody carnage and opposing agonizing cruelty are worth the risks we must take.

Any potential conflict can be avoided by cancelling any dolphin death drive for the summer. A civilized society must never condemn compassion and kindness. A civilized society should never condone death and suffering, and especially not in a case where the killing takes place for no other reason than the sadistic pleasure of inflicting torture and death.