Excitement turns to horror as cruise passengers witness orcas harpooned off Caribbean island

Thomson Cruise is considering stopping all whale and dolphin watching tours in the Grenadines after holidaymakers on an outing witnessed two whales being killed. The incident has also put pressure on the small Caribbean nation to review its whaling practices.

The 40 passengers, who arrived at the islands on a TUI Discovery ship, were taking part in a whale and dolphin watching tour, an optional add-on to their itinerary, when they saw men harpoon two of a group of four orcas.

Ken Isaacs, a crew member of Fantasea Tours, which operated the trip, was aboard the boat at the time and witnessed the events in grim detail.

According to the account he gave iWitness News, the tourists were initially “very excited” to spot four orcas off the coast of St. Vincent, the main island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. 

As enthralled holidaymakers were observing the killer whales, three sailors arrived in a canoe boat, with a harpoon mounted on the bow. Recognising the whaling vessel, Isaacs shouted at the fisherman to “leave [the orcas] alone”, but his plea was met with “a hand gesture that means ‘go to hell’.”

On Isaacs’ advice, the captain began to turn the tourist boat away, to protect passengers from seeing the scene, but as they did “there was a loud explosion as the spear was fired into the killer whale”. The whalers then attached a buoy to the slain animal to prevent it from sinking.

Passengers were very distressed, with some in tears after witnessing the slaughter of the immense mammal, classed as the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is one of the few countries in the world where the practice of whaling – or hunting whales for their usable products such as meat and oil – remains legal.

A spokesperson for Thomson Cruise told Telegraph Travel: “We’re very sorry to confirm that some of our customers on a whale and dolphin watching excursion in St Vincent and the Grenadines witnessed a sad incident where two orcas were targeted by a local fishing boat.

"While this distressing event was beyond our control, our excursion agents in the Grenadines are fully co-operating with the on-going investigation currently taking place with the Head of the National Trust and the Minister of the Environment.

"This was our last planned stop at St Vincent and the Grenadines this season, and as a result of what happened and as we take an active approach to animal welfare we are reviewing our excursions with the relevant authorities.”

European conservation organisation ORCA works with ferry and cruise operators, including Saga and Brittany Ferries, training crews to identify whale species and in some cases coming on board to educate cruise passengers about the marine life around them. 

A spokesperson from the charity said that whaling is a "cruel and barbaric" trade that should not be a part of modern society. "Cruise companies have unparalleled reach in tourist-reliant economies across the world, and therefore have the opportunity to make a real difference in stopping the whaling trade."

We hope that as a result of this incident, more cruise companies will try to identify practical action that can result in better protection for whales and dolphins."

 

The incident in the Grenadines has put pressure on the Caribbean nation to end the controversial practice. The International Whaling Commission permits the country to kill a limited number of whales as part of a clause that “allows for whaling on otherwise protected animals when it is conducted by certain indigenous people to satisfy subsistence needs”.

After being killed, the whales are cut apart by butchers and the meat is sold to locals in dried-out strips and cubes. According to Telegraph Travel’s Soo Kim, who visited the destination earlier this month, whale consumption is part of the local culture; each part of the whale is used and there is even a bar, named Whaleboner, on Bequia island where whale bones are featured in the décor.

But critics argue that, with the emergence of technology, it is no longer convincing that locals rely on the whale meat.

The country’s prime minister, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, who has previously stated he would like to move local industry away from whaling and towards whale-watching tourism, responded quickly to the Thomson Cruise incident.

According to the Antigua Observer, Gonsalves said: “The person or persons who were involved in killing the two orcas is a very hard-working fisherman. But what he did was plain wrong. Not just because it happened in front of tourists, but [because] he must not kill the orcas.”

The prime minister has now committed to passing legislation to make the killing of orcas illegal. “It is important for us to say that we have our traditions and we need to keep traditions, but we can’t keep traditions out of sync with the rest of the world or have those traditions continue in a manner which is injurious to us,” he said.

Whaling was introduced to St. Vincent relatively recently, in the 1870s, by Scottish settler William Wallace, who established the first whaling station on Bequia island.

It is believed this is the first time orcas were killed on St. Vincent since June 2015, while humpback whales are also targeted sporadically.

The greatest number of whale killings annually take place in Norway.

ORCA has today made a public committment to offer its expertise free of charge to any cruise company that wishes to develop policies to help with the protection of cetaceans worldwide.