posted 08-01-2002 12:17 AM            

Sonar Killed Whales, Navy Admits
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/o...amas_Report.pdf

By Cat Lazaroff

WASHINGTON, DC, December 21, 2001 (ENS) - The U.S. Navy and the National Marine Fisheries Service have released a report acknowledging the role that the Navy's tactical sonar played in the strandings of 17 marine mammals in the Bahamas last year. The report is the agency's first official admission that sonar may contribute to whale beachings.

The interim report finds that the March 2000 stranding of 16 whales and a dolphin on Bahamian beaches was caused "by the unusual combination of several contributory factors acting together."

The Navy and NMFS concluded that the presence of the whales in a restrictive ocean channel, during calm water conditions which reflect and amplify sounds, caused the Navy's sonar to damage the whale's ears, leading them to beach themselves.

"Review of passive acoustic data ruled out volcanic eruptions, landslides, other seismic events, and explosive blasts," the agencies reported. "The unusual extended use of Navy midrange tactical sonars operating in the area is the most plausible acoustic source."

The report says that the Navy's experimental Low Frequency Active Sonar (LFAS), which has been implicated in other whale strandings, was not involved in this incident.

Instead, the whales were injured because the calm water and the underwater topography concentrated sound in the top 200 meters of the ocean - just where the whales and dolphins would have been swimming.

"The calm seas did little to stop the reflection and caused fewer air bubbles, which dissipate sound energy," the report notes.
On March 15 and 16, 2000, nine Cuvier's beaked whales, three Blainville's beaked whales, two unidentified beaked whales, one spotted dolphin, and two Minke whales were reported stranded along the Northeast and Northwest Providence Channels on the Bahamian Islands.

The strandings took place within 24 hours of the intensive use of active midrange sonar by U.S. Navy ships as they passed through the Northeast and Northwest Providence Channels.

The Navy says that multiple sonar units were used over an extended period of time.
Six of the whales died after stranding on beaches. One dolphin stranded and died of unrelated causes. Ten whales were returned to the sea alive.

Specimen samples were collected from four dead whales. Three of these whales showed signs of bleeding in the inner ears and one whale showed signs of bleeding around the brain.
Whale biologists determined that the most likely cause of the bleeding was either a blow to the head or exceptionally loud noises.

"The investigation team concludes that tactical mid-range frequency sonars aboard U.S. Navy ships that were in use during the sonar exercise in question were the most plausible source of this acoustic or impulse trauma," the report concludes.

The investigation team recommended that future research focus on identifying where combinations of ocean and undersea conditions might combine to create similar problems in the future.

"This research, along with other research on the impacts of sonar sounds on marine mammals, increased knowledge of marine mammal densities, increased knowledge of causes of beaked whale strandings, increased knowledge of beaked whale anatomy, physiology and medicine, and further research on sonar propagation, will provide valuable information for determining which combinations of factors are most likely to cause another mass stranding event," they conclude.

The team recommended that the Navy continue to investigate how sonar affects marine mammals and to develop measures to protect animals "to the maximum extent possible and not jeopardize national security."

The Navy said it will include, when possible, Bahamian scientists and other qualified individuals in future surveys involving marine mammal research in Bahamian territorial waters.

posted 08-01-2002 01:46 AM               

One thing has me wondering though...If those sounds are sonar, wouldn't that effect scuba divers in the area? Wouldn't they be hearing it too?

posted 08-01-2002 01:52 AM            

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``Sonar is a very important defense, but it's like practicing dropping nuclear bombs - it will have a very important environmental impact,'' said Ken Balcomb, a marine biologist who witnessed the Bahama stranding in front of his house.

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These are mammals we're talking about! They 'think' and 'feel' just like we do. They likely mourn the loss of their kins just like we do. They are suffering. For what? This is nothing more than an attack on nature in my eyes. I can't help but to feel it is somehow an attack on a part of me as well.

(older article) 09-07-01 http://www.hypography.com/article.cfm/31670.html

Eighteen months ago, the Navy deployed a powerful mid-range sonar during a submarine detection exercise in the deep water canyons of the Bahamas.

BAR HARBOR, Maine (AP) - Within hours, at least 16 whales and two dolphins beached themselves on the islands of Abaco, Grand Bahama and North Eleuthera. Scientists found hemorrhaging around the brain and ear bones - injuries consistent with exposure to extremely loud sounds. Eight whales died.

Now, the March 2000 strandings are being used as a battle cry for opponents of an even stronger low-frequency sonar the Navy wants to use to detect a new generation of quiet submarines.

A growing number of environmentalists and lawmakers want to stop deployment of the system because they fear it will harm whales, dolphins and loggerhead turtles. The state of Maine is particularly concerned about the impact on endangered northern right whales.

``I appreciate the nation's needs for national security, but I also believe that the evidence shows (this new) sonar is harmful to the marine environment,'' said Rep. John Baldacci, D-Maine.

The Navy, which has spent $300 million developing the system, is awaiting a review of its plan for a five-year deployment. A final decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service is expected this fall.

The Navy contends the sonar is imperative to national security because other nations, including Russia, Germany and China, are already developing super-quiet submarines that can avoid traditional detection.

It says it will protect whales with a 1,100-yard buffer zone backed up with traditional sonar and lookouts to determine the presence of whales.

Still, critics say the risk to whales and other marine life under those guidelines far outweighs any advances in submarine detection.

``Sonar is a very important defense, but it's like practicing dropping nuclear bombs - it will have a very important environmental impact,'' said Ken Balcomb, a marine biologist who witnessed the Bahama stranding in front of his house.

Whales are more susceptible to sonar interference than many mammals because they rely on sound for communication, feeding, mating and migration.

The proposed sonar is a type of low-frequency active sonar called the Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System, or Surtass LFA. The Navy wants to use it on four warships capable of sweeping 80 percent of the world's oceans.

According to the Navy's proposal, the sonar would transmit signals as loud as 215 decibels - the underwater equivalent of standing next to a twin-engine F-15 fighter jet at takeoff.

But the Navy contends the loudest noise a whale would encounter is 180 decibels because of the safety zone, said Joe Johnson, the Navy official in charge of managing the environmental tests.

The Navy's tests on four species were able to attain only an estimated level of 150 decibels. At that level, the sonar affected the length of humpback whale songs but didn't lead to other extreme behaviors, said Roger Gentry, an acoustics expert from the National Marine Fisheries Service.

But some biologists believe whales are irritated by sounds louder than 110 decibels. At 180 decibels, they contend, a whale's ear drums could explode - similar to how an opera singer shatters glass.

The Navy admits the Bahamas stranding was likely caused by mid-range sonar but contends the low-frequency active sonar wouldn't harm whales.

Mid-range sonar, used in the Bahamas can be heard over shorter distances by many marine animals. Low-frequency sonar can travel several hundred miles but is audible to fewer animals; the downside is the transmissions are on the same frequency used for communication by many large whales, including humpbacks.

Critics believe there have been other strandings linked to sonar, but the whales in the Bahamas were the only ones to be fully examined.

In 1996, 12 Cuvier beaked whales beached themselves in Greece during NATO exercises involving the same low-frequency sonar the Navy wants to use. But those whales decomposed before scientists could conduct an investigation.

Marsha Green, an animal behaviorist with the Ocean Mammal Institute in Reading, Pa., fears the worst if the sonar is deployed.

``Can you imagine a world without whales?'' she said. ``It would be like a world without songbirds. We would all regret it.''

posted 08-01-2002 03:02 AM            

quote:

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Can you imagine a world without whales?

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quote:

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It would be like a world without songbirds. We would all regret it.

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posted 08-02-2002 02:19 AM               

14 rough-toothed dolphins found dead on Eastern Shore

By PAUL CLANCY, The Virginian-Pilot
July 31, 2002

While a large group of pilot whales was heading for Cape Cod beaches to die Monday morning, another mass stranding of marine mammals had taken place on a remote island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

A mass stranding of 14 rough-toothed dolphins, a species rarely seen close to shore, occurred Sunday on the southern end of Wreck Island, an uninhabited nature preserve owned by the state.

The stranding was reported long after the animals had died, officials said.

The Stranding Team from the Virginia Marine Science Museum, accompanied by a dolphin expert from the Smithsonian Institution, went to the barrier island opposite Oyster and examined the animals.

Rough-toothed dolphins get their name from ridges on their teeth. They have narrow heads and sloping foreheads, according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. Charles Potter, a Smithsonian marine mammal specialist, said Tuesday that there was no sign of trauma, such as net marks or boat strikes.

Although the animals had not eaten recently, they were not emaciated.

``They might have just become trapped, or if one or two of them was ill, it might have been a follow-the-leader sort of thing to the beach,'' Potter said. They were mostly juveniles, Potter said. ``You get the feeling that if they were older, they might not have ended up like this,'' he said.

Mark Swingle, director of the stranding team, said mass strandings are rare in Virginia. Three rough-toothed dolphins came ashore in Sandbridge in the late 1980s, he said.

They are deep-ocean animals, almost never found close to shore. ``Something must have been wrong,'' Swingle said.

posted 08-02-2002 05:12 PM               

An hour later I drove another 15 miles further south out to Brown's Point, and still heard nothing.

I did get the date right didn't I Jim? If they were firing their 'Big Guns' I sure couldn't hear them. So...about the ' sonic booms'. Anyone ready to explain this to us?

posted 08-03-2002 01:07 AM               

AUSTRALIA: July 30, 2002

SYDNEY - A pod of 54 whales died after washing up on a remote stretch of beach near the Great Australian Bight, conservation officials said.

Western Australian Conservations and Land Management (CALM) workers said they feared the carcasses - weighing up to five tonnes each - would be devoured by sharks before a mass grave could be dug along Tooregullup Beach, on the Indian Ocean southeast of Perth.

Local fisherman came across the whales, known as False Killers, late on Friday, Peter Lambert, a wildlife specialist for CALM told Reuters."Most of the whales were already dead, but we had to shoot seven, they were just too far gone to survive," Lambert said. "It was very sad."

The all black False Killer Whale is similar to the better known grey and white Killer Whale. Rescue attempts had been hampered because the waters were notorious breeding grounds for sharks, Lambert said. "These waters are heavily patrolled by Great Whites and Bronze Whalers," he said.

Wildlife officers and a veterinarian tried unsuccessfully to stabilise some of the whales, Lambert said.

Soft sand and a rising tide were preventing bulldozers moving the carcasses quickly, he said.

False Killer Whales are found worldwide in tropical and temperate waters. They favour deep water but occasionally come close to the beach.