Barrouallie whalers exchanging Orcas for Tuna support

Whalers in the leeward town of Barrouallie have agreed to stop hunting Orcas in exchange for support for tuna fishing, the St Vincent and the Grenadines Environment Fund (SVGEF) has said in a release.

(LEFT TO RIGHT) SVGEF’s Stephan Hornsey, Louise Mitchell and Chief Whaler of Barrouallie, Samuel Hazelwood (Photo Credit Dr.Judith Brown Blue Marine Foundation)

“For the past ten years the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Environment Fund has been calling for a gradual shift towards whale watching, and working hard in the whaling community of Barrouallie to create alternative livelihoods towards this goal,” the release states. “It was with great humility that in December 2024 they received a letter from the Chief Whaler of Barrouallie, Mr Samuel Hazelwood stating that, sensitive to the growing concern over the past 10 plus years to the killing of the Orcas (also known as Killer Whales), the whalers of Barrouallie have decided to stop the hunt of the Killer Whale.” The SVGEF said the Orca fishers made a request to them to fund to fish aggregating devices (FADs) which would facilitate the catching of tuna, in exchange for them giving up the hunt of killer whales. A meeting facilitated by the chief fisheries officer was held at the

Fisheries Division on January 16, 2025 to discuss the cessation of the hunting Orcas and at that meeting an agreement was signed between the four whalers of Barrouallie and Louise Mitchell, on behalf of the SVGEF, to end the Killer Whale hunt in exchange for the investment in two FADs.

“The FADs are being built in Barrouallie by Hazelwood, following international best practices (no nets), as well as guidance from our partners at Blue Marine Foundation, and installed off the leeward coast of St. Vincent. The whalers have honoured the agreement, even though no legislation has yet been passed in

Parliament,” The SVGEF pointed out. Since the agreement Orca’s have made safe passage in the waters of St.Vincent and the Grenadines, noted by the whalers who have reported seeing pods of Orcas in recent weeks that were spared due to this agreement. Orcas are not what is used for the production of Black Fish.

Over the years, the SVGEF, and before it, the SVG National Trust, was involved in many initiatives to expose whalers and persons from whaling communities to the lucrative business of whale watching worldwide, the SVGEF states.

“ Investments were made in sending persons from whaling communities to view whale and dolphin watching in Boston, USA, Patagonia, Argentina, and even Australia.”

The SVGEF says further that it has had support over the years from Carolina Cassani of Fundacion Cethus, an NGO out of Argentina, which has conducted training sessions over the years on sustainable whale watching and the importance of it being conducted in a regulated manner that does not impact on the whale habitats and socialization patterns. The SVGEF adds that it also supported the whale watching business “Alex Tours”, run by Kirk Grant of Bottle and Glass, Barrouallie.

“I want to congratulate the whalers of Barrouallie, in particular Mr Samuel Hazelwood for being out front on this initiative. It is not easy to spearhead change, but there are times when change is the right thing to do, for your community, for your country and for the preservation of the planet,” the release quotes Executive Director, Louise Mitchell as stating.

“ Whales are known to be the greatest sequesters of carbon and their conservation helps to stop the warming of the planet, which is putting our very existence on earth at risk.”

Meanwhile, Hazelwood is quoted to have said “We will desist from catching the killer whales. We realise this is an issue Caribbean-wide and even worldwide although we make a good bit of money from the killer whales, but there are times when we do have to come to a compromise so that other people can feel a bit at ease in relation to how we are fishing”.

The SVGEF says it will continue to be at the forefront of discussion in conservation of cetaceans as it develops its relationship with the whaling and fisherfolk communities at large among our various projects. “But now one thing is for certain, that through this agreement, the SVGEF and the whalers of Barrouallie can say that Orcas are safe in Vincentian waters.”