DEADLY SONAR

as reported in The Honolulu Advertiser  December 30, 2001

A joint report by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Navy revealed that sonar used during naval exercises in the Bahamas during March of 2000 contributed to the deaths of seven whales and to the strading of 10 others.  For years, scientists and environmentalists have tried to find a link between the deaths of whales and noise pollution such as military sonar, explosion and seismic tests for the oil industry.   The report stated "Based on the way in which the stradings coincided with ongoing naval activity involving tactical mid-range frequency sonar use... the investigation team concludes that tactical mid-range frequency sonars aboard U.S. Navy ships... were the most plausible source of this acoustic or impulse trauma."   Many of the whales were found to have suffered from hemorrhages near the ears.

ENVIROWATCH'S ARTICLE ABOUT THIS TOPIC:

         SURTASS - LFA

          WHALES IN DANGER