European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 15, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Ancus Ere Are More sheep than people Hale ales to i " in the to i jul vi43 he Avn 1ikers rive Home in Bow sedans. Korshavn s yellow Green and Blue wooden cottages cling to Bare Rock on a site picked by Viking explorers. Long dark Winter nights and about 280 Rainy Days per year have produced a literary and artistic population. Paintings by faeroese hang on almost every Wall from Banks to ferry boats. About 100 books Are published every year in faeroese a language not even written Down until 130 years ago. Several Island novelists among them Joergen Frantz Jacobsen and William Hennesen author of the kingdom of the Earth and the lost musicians have won International renown. The Academia of Roenelt the Island s College has 30 full time students enrolled in its departments of scandinavian literature and language science and theology. Two years of studies Are offered and degrees can be completed at universities in Denmark. For a Little More than a year a faeroese television station has been on the air five Days a week. Before that faeroese saw Little but relayed Mainland danish news programs. Danish and foreign programs still dominate television offerings but the new station is producing six or seven local programs a week. We should make faeroese to. Not danish to said the station director Asbjorn Skaale. Faeroese society is guided by standards of moral orderliness rare in much of the rest of Western Europe. Alcoholic beverages stronger than Light Beer Are tightly restricted and can be obtained Only through a three step procedure. Including confirming that the would be purchaser owes no taxes. The islands few restaurants serve 1 Perce rtt wine at High prices. Bars Don t exist although private clubs operate by putting together Many personal rations of alcohol. The clubs Are usually found in dark alleys with doormen checking membership cards. Alcoholism is a growing problem and there Are no alcoholism clinics in the Faeroe. We Send alcoholics to Iceland Lor treatment said Lisbeth Peterson acting mayor of Korshavn. There Are Many who need to come and ask for help but they Don there it to unemployment although the government does t officially recognize the idea of unemployment keeps no statistics and pays no benefits. In the Faeroe it is said a person can always fish. It is a vicious Circle we Don t have any unemployed because we Don t have any unemployment benefits and the other Way around said dam. Fishing As a livelihood is under siege on two fronts from declining fish populations and controversy Over whale Hunts. Tho faeroese say environmental militants have Given whaling an unjustified reputation for cruelty. We constantly get a lot of protest notes from environmental groups saying mop the unregulated killing of these innocent whales " says Juliana Klett of the lands Tyre. The faeroese kills take place when Pilot whales pass close to Shore. About 2,400 whales Are killed per year. Until the rules were changed in 1985, faeroese used to kill the whales in the water with harpoons a process they say caused the whales More suffering and a prolonged death. The new rules however requiring the kills be made on land made it easier to photograph the kills and photographs have fuelled outsiders protests. It looks so red when you see the blood on a picture. In a slaughterhouse As much blood pours out after the Slaughter but it is tapped off for technical use. Here it pours out in the sea says Danial Baerentzen the islands veterinary chief. Alter the Hunt the whale meat is distributed among faeroese according to written rules dating Back to 1298. Faeroese claim whale meat is essential to the islands food Supply. Half of All faeroese meat production and a Quarter of meat consumption is Pilot whale. In 1984, a Law Banning All commercial whale Hunting in faeroese territory was adopted. Whale Hunting is allowed Only for the necessary consumption of the population dam said. We eat practically everything that s other fishing is essential to the islands Economy and accounts for 99 percent of faeroese exports but catches Are declining. If the biologists Are at All right in what they Are. Saying we Are very close to a catastrophe said bar Ger Danl Eslen. Managing director of the country s cooperative fish Export company Faeroe seafood. Declining fish stocks in the faeroese Waters have led to an increase in the territory s heavily subsidized fishing Fleet. Past years catches have exceeded International recommendations for some species by 100 percent. With More and More Effort we Are getting less and less said Hjalte Jakups stove. The younger fish Are caught which leads to a smaller and smaller growth of the i fit own bet fun Tolna in Why. I wry 15. 1986 Dinelli Tourell Bowd Lioto Dwigth Tourtel bowl no o a Flaa. I Tuata in a Herd. In tarty Jay it wot important far Farmer to augment tarning by . The stars and stripes Page 15
