WASHINGTON DC (22 Dec 2001) -- A U.S. government interim report released yesterday blames experimental sonar aboard Navy warships for a mass stranding of 17 cetaceans in the northern Bahamas during March 2000. According to the report, the intense sound produced by the sonar caused extensive damage to the mammals' inner ears, resulting in disorientation and eventually death for 7 of the animals. Ten were returned to the water, but their fate remains unknown. The report, prepared jointly by representatives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Navy states that, "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". Through on-site autopsies and examinations, and later tissue analyses and investigation marine mammal experts were able to rule out other likely cause such as infectious disease, ship strikes, or fishing-related injuries. In all, this and earlier reports considered and "unequivocally rejected" sixteen possible other (than Navy sonar) causes for the stranding event. The new report is particularly notable because even though independent marine mammal experts have long hypothesized that intense sound produced by military underwater search equipment (sonar) was likely responsible for some - if not many - whale strandings, this is the first time that the U.S. Navy has publicly acknowledged the serious nature of the problem by accepting blame for an actual stranding event. | | Of the 13 beaked whales that stranded in the Bahamas in March 2000 after exposure to active sonar, seven died, including this one. Four species of cetaceans were involved in the Bahamas stranding incident: Cuvier's beaked whales, Blainville's beaked whales, Minke whales and spotted dolphin. The report recommends more focused research be undertaken immediately to gain a better understanding of the phenomena and mechanisms involved in these types of injuries, with a goal of reducing the likelihood of such incidents in the future. In April 2000, after independent scientists warned that LFA (low-frequency active sonar) may have caused whale beachings and deaths in the Bahamas in March, Cyber Diver Society and other environmental groups called on the US Navy to stop experimentation with LFA and later urged the National Marine Fisheries Service to deny the Navy's application to deploy the system. |
