Faroese Seafood and Animal Welfare

I have long campaigned for greater protections for marine mammals and condemn the grindadráp  – the shocking, organised slaughter of cetaceans – which has been routinely carried out on the Faroe Islands for many years. It no longer has any place in a modern world which should be striving to improve, not diminish, our treatment of sentient marine life. 

I am a co-sponsor of Early Day Motion 2688, which condemns the dolphin hunts in the Faroe Islands, and reflects the strength of feeling among MPs that the UK should not be seen to condone such practices through its trade relationships. 

Indeed, working in partnership with the Wildlife and Countryside Link, the Seal Research Trust and a cross-party group of MPs, I introduced the Marine Mammals Protection Bill, which seeks to ensure the UK does more to safeguard whales, dolphins and porpoises, including through the standards we uphold domestically and promote internationally. While progress has been limited and the chance of this Bill succeeding is small, I remain determined to advance this important campaign. 

I have written to the relevant Ministers at both Defra and the DBT to urge a review of our trading relationship with the Faroe Islands, and to press for mandatory region-of-origin labelling of food products.