Many will find these graphic pictures upsetting.
But for the indigenous people of Lamalera, a village on the south coast of Lembata in Indonesia, whale hunting has been a way of village life for hundreds of years.
The 75ft-long sperm whale is the Lamalera’s favoured prey, but due to decreasing numbers, hunters are increasingly turning their spears on sharks and dolphins to provide enough food for their village.
These images were taken during a hunt in one of the last places on Earth where people still use traditional methods to fish.
The skilled fishermen sail out on a wooden peledang, a wooden boat that can hold up to 14 men. The most agile stands on the bow armed with a ‘kefa’ – a bamboo pole with an iron-blade and knives.
He then leaps from the boat, piercing the animal with the kefa before swimming back to collect another pole.
A whale’s blubber is a foot thick and the men, dwarfed by the enormous animal, risk their lives as they try to bring it to shore.
The whale or shark usually drags the boat through the water faster than a jet-ski before it finally succumbs. Sometimes the fishermen have to battle for up to six hours.
It may seem cruel, but it is a a far cry from the whaling fleets of Japan, whose factory boats and grenade harpoons wreak slaughter on an industrial scale.
Whales migrate between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific during May to October. As such Lefa Nue or the sea season, starts on May 1 and continues into October.
The villagers continue to fight increasing pressure from various organisations and NGOs are trying to encourage tourists to take part in whale watching rather than hunting.
But the people of the village remain defiant, saying they need to keep hunting to survive.
The sperm whale and the whale shark are classed as ‘vulnerable’ on the the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
This means they are likely to become endangered unless the circumstances threatening their survival improve.
Associated Newspapers Ltd