Situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, roughly half way between Scotland and Iceland, the Faroes are made up of 18 mountainous islands, 17 of which are inhabited by the population of 48.000. The language of the Faroe Islands is Faroese, a west Nordic language most closely related to Icelandic, which derives from the language of the Norsemen who settled the islands from Norway and the northern British isles over 1100 years ago.

 

The Faroe Islands are a self-governing nation within the Kingdom of Denmark. Under the existing constitutional arrangements, the Faroese Parliament legislates independently of Denmark on all areas of self-government as defined by the Home Rule Act, including the conservation and management of fish and whale stocks within the 200-mile fisheries zone. Unlike Denmark, the Faroe Islands are not a member of the EU, but maintain bilateral trade agreements and bilateral fisheries agreements with the EU and number of other countries, including their nearest neighbours, Norway and Iceland.

The economy of the Faroe Islands is overwhelmingly dependent on the fishing and aquaculture industries. In addition to the modern fishing industry, which produces high quality fish products for export, the Faroese economy is also supplemented by other means of food production from local resources. These include the many mountain grazing sheep which provide up to 60% of all locally produced meat as well as wool, some limited catching of sea birds such as puffins and fulmars, the coastal hunting of the abundant and regularly occurring pilot whales for their meat and blubber, enough dairy cattle to satisfy all domestic milk needs, as well as many small potato crops carefully cultivated by private households for their own use.

 

These local forms of agriculture and hunting have enabled the Faroe Islands to maintain a relatively high degree of self-sufficiency in local food production. In the Faroe Islands it is considered both economic and environmental good sense to make the most of natural resources which are locally available. This is crucial to a small nation with a vulnerable economy, and helps to maintain not only the close relationship Faroese have with their natural environment and their respect for the limits of nature’s productivity, but also the strong cohesion of Faroese society and culture in the face of the pressures and challenges of an increasingly globalised world.