New Navy Sonar Scientifically Linked to Whale Deaths
Read this excerpt (from the Seattle P-I) about a new scientific study from the science journal Nature linking recent whale deaths to powerful new navy sonar.
Can whales get the bends?
Sure they can, says a scientific report due out today, and it appears that sonar is to blame. A research team said more care should be taken in using powerful Navy sonar systems around marine mammals.
After a series of incidents in which naval sonar was suspected of killing or harming whales, orcas and other marine mammals -- including one last summer in the San Juan Islands -- today's findings pinpoint for the first time at least one way sonar appears to harm the creatures.
Read the entire story from the Seattle P-I:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/
local/143166_whales09.html
Visit People for Puget Sound's website section on Marine Species Protection to learn more about the issue and find out how you can get involved:
http://www.pugetsound.org/species/default.html
Read the response to this study from People for Puget Sound:
SEATTLE - People For Puget Sound today called for the Navy to stop its use of sonar in Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits, in the wake of a new study showing that mid-range sonar use causes whale and dolphin deaths. The new study, published in the scientific journal Nature and widely reported in the press today, implicates Navy sonar use as the likely cause of whale and dolphin beachings in which the animals died of a decompression disorder similar to the "bends."
"This study underscores the need for an end to high-intensity sonar use in Puget Sound, where orca whale populations have declined dramatically. We are disappointed at the Navy's failure to respond quickly and constructively to this issue," said Kathy Fletcher, executive director of People For Puget Sound.
Orca and minke whales and other marine mammals are always present in Puget Sound and the Straits. The rocky environment of the Straits region causes sound to travel and bounce around rather than to dissipate. The Navy's policy of scanning the water in the immediate vicinity of the ship to see if mammals are present is not an adequate procedure to prevent harm to these creatures, as demonstrated in May, when the Navy vessel Shoup used its sonar near the San Juan Islands. At that time, whale scientists documented orca and minke whales attempting to flee from the sound, and multiple dolphin strandings occurred.
At a state legislative hearing on this topic on October 1, Navy officials gave a lengthy presentation on all of the sources of noise in the ocean, without addressing how they would respond, if at all, to concerns stemming from sonar use by the Shoup.
"The Navy's presentation on October 1 was designed to make legislators think that fish finders and whales themselves are just as much of a noise pollution concern as military high-intensity sonar use," Fletcher said. "Furthermore, neither the Navy nor the National Marine Fisheries Service were prepared to address the Shoup incident, saying that the investigation is still going on."
"The Navy could reassure all of us who are working hard to prevent the extinction of our resident orca whales if they would announce that they will immediately stop all high-intensity sonar drills and tests in the sensitive inland waters of Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits," Fletcher concluded.
