Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether officials in his Department have had discussions with officials in the Faroe Islands government on the recent killing of over 1400 dolphins.

The UK is strongly opposed to the hunting of any cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), other than some limited activities by indigenous people for clearly defined purposes. Minister for Pacific and the Environment The Rt. Hon Lord Goldsmith has written to the Faroese fisheries minister to express the UK's opposition to the hunt that took place on the 12th September and the continued hunting of cetaceans in the Faroe Islands on both animal welfare and conservation grounds.