Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2009, Page 195

VEIÐISØGA OG ÚTBREIÐSLA AV SKJÓRUTUM SPRINGARA (LAGENORHYNCHUS ACUTUS) 193
IFØROYUM
Year No/yr drive/yr 1939 ? 1 1992 47 3
1872 26 2 1940 226 2 1993 377 6
1889 6 1 1944 156 1 1994 263 7
1892 1 1 1948 440 1 1995 157 4
1902 10 1 1951 20 1 1996 357 7
1904 308 1 1960 137 2 1997 350 10
1905 143 1 1961 27 1 1998 438 4
1907 27 4 1965 176 1 2000 265 3
1910 6 1 1968 9 1 2001 546 7
1911 237 3 1970 59 3 2002 773 10
1918 22 1 1971 50 1 2003 186 5
1920 2 1 1975 5 1 2004 333 5
1924 3 1 1976 14 1 2005 312 4
1928 335 2 1977 30 1 2006 622 8
1929 344 3 1980 8 1 2008 1 1
1930 80 1 1983 10 1 2009 171 5
1931 20 2 1985 32 1
1932 172 3 1986 185 4
1933 110 1 Year No/yr drive/yr
1934 30 3 1987 76 2
Year No/yr drive/yr 1988 603 4
1936 37 3 1990 55 2
Table 1. Annual number taken of white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus) in the Faroe Islands in the period
1872-2009. N = 9,435 whales taken in 158 drives.
It has to be pointed out that in the last
about 10 years the following whaling bays in
the central part of the islands have mostly
been closed for drives of white-sided dol-
phins: Tórshavn, Hvalvík and Vestmanna at
the island of Streymoy, all three whaling bays
on the island of Vágar: Sandavágur, Miðvág-
ur, and Bøur, and Streymnes on the island
Eysturoy (Fig. 2). Moreover, no drive of
white-sided dolphin is conducted during the
last years on small pods in any bay (i.e. <
about 50 animals) due to difficulties in shar-
ing the catch between the numerous num-
ber of participants in the drive. The differ-
ences in driving effort may give distorted
knowledge of geographical distribution pat-
tern of the dolphins.
Material and methods
The older part (1584-ca. 1960) of the official
drive fishery statistics is kept at the Faroese
National Archive. A copy is placed at the
Faroese Museum of Natural History which
has taken over the monitoring and keeps a
continuous statistics of the drive fishery to
the present date. The ofhcial reports from
every drive of pilot whales or other species
from the different whaling bays normally
also contain remarks if any other species
have been taken when a mixed school has
occurred. The older reports include the
name of the species taken, the date, locality,
the number of individuals caught, and their
prize in the old Norse value named skinn (for
an explanation and description, see Bloch