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TechnoratiHuman Factor Suspected in Mass Beaching of Whales in Australia
Conservationists are demanding an immediate and thorough inquiry into what they say is the suspicious stranding of 200 whales and dolphins.
![[ Some of the 200 pilot whales which beached themselves on an island near Australia's southern state of Tasmania (Photo: Reuters)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/whales_tasmania.jpg "whales_tasmania.jpg")
Fears that the mass stranding on an Australian beach on Sunday was caused by human disturbance were raised because two species of cetacean came ashore simultaneously.
Most of the animals were pilot whales, but a number of bottlenose dolphins were also among the pod.
Residents joined wildlife workers to spend hours keeping the surviving animals wet and cool before they could be lifted, pushed and hauled back into the water.
The rescue operation succeeded in saving 54 pilot whales and five dolphins on Naracoopa Beach on King Island, Tasmania. Most of the beached animals were dead by the time anyone could reach them.
Wildlife workers and volunteers were delighted to have saved more than a quarter of the whales and dolphins, but they were maintaining a watch on beaches in the area for fear that some of the creatures might come ashore again during the next high tides. Officials of the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service were trying to discover last night why 192 whales and seven dolphins had beached themselves but said that the stranding, like many others before, was likely to remain a mystery.
Mark Simmonds, of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and an expert on cetacean strandings, said that two species coming ashore together was enough to arouse suspicions of a human factor, including the use of sonar by the military.
"To get more than one species is unusual," he said. "When you do, you get more suspicious because it means that they might have been driven. It does make us worried. We are certainly going to call for a very thorough investigation."
Military sonar has been strongly linked to several strandings, particularly of deep-diving species such as pilot whales. Other human noises that could have frightened or disorientated the animals include industrial activities.
Another prime suspect among the possible causes is climate change, which scientists fear may be causing whales and dolphins to get close to unfamiliar coastlines.
Several species have migrations that take them close to the Tasmanian shore - 80 per cent of Australian strandings take place in Tasmania - and changes in water temperature caused by climate change could be driving them off their usual routes.
However, Dr Simmonds accepted that an explanation for the stranding could equally well be natural, such as the marine animals making a simple navigational error.
Factors leading to natural strandings are little understood but researchers believe that they are likely to be linked to group behaviour.
"Pilot whales are one of those species that do tend to feature in mass strandings, which is probably because they are a very social species," Dr Simmonds said. "Out at sea there's nowhere to hide but behind each other, so when one gets into trouble the others follow."
It is the fourth time in the past few months that a large stranding has taken place on Tasmania's coast. Chris Arthur, of the Parks and Wildlife Service, said: "This last summer has been a particularly demanding one."
Ninety-seven animals of two species - long-finned whales and bottlenose dolphins - were stranded in November 2004 on King Island.
13 Comments so far
Show AllIt's safe to assume the culprit here is Navy sonar. Environmentalists have been trying for years to stop them from doing it because of this very consequence, but why should the Navy, especially the mighty and powerful US Navy, give a damn what tree huggers and whale lovers think or want? They OWN the oceans, goddamnit! Whales and dolphins just get in the way of their sacred maneuvers, 99% of which are redundant and meaningless. But so is most of what this country does in its idiotic and suicidal addiction to militarism.
Let's petition Obama to save the whales and dolphins by ordering the Navy to stop blasting its deafening sonar throughout the world's oceans. I'm sure he'll get right on it.
OK, so why is it safe to assume Navy sonar is the culprit? Really, we'd like to know.
The active sources that have received much attention are PERMANENT undersea installations along the CA and OR coast. SURTASS is also deployed along the East Coast. This is technology that the Australians have not exploited, and so it is reasonable to assume that similar sources are not situated along the Australian coastline. Signals from the West coast SURTASS are severely attenuated when they reach Australia, 7,000 miles distant, because of the many islands and shoals in the South Pacific. As an aside, its the islands and shoals that are one of the many reasons why the Australian submariner forces (using old Oberon diesel subs) routinely whip the US Navy in South Pacific exercises.
Active sources that move (ie on board subs and surface vessels) are relatively low power and are used for short-durations only. Few beachings have been linked to mobile active sources alone.
Beachings have occurred for centuries, and for many indigenous coastal people, have been a substantial source of food. So clearly, sonar is not the only reason for these mysterious beachings.
I am not denying the role played by SURTASS in many tragic beachings, but you are going to need more evidence to convince me (or anyone else that understands physics) that Navy sonar was the culprit here.
Never criticize a man until you've walked a mile in their moccasins - Native American proverb.
Over 50 whales were stranded off Tasmania in November, 2008. According Michael Rivero commentary , "The US Navy just started using their high-power low frequency sonar systems again, after the ban was lifted. The Navy promised to be careful about whales, but ..."
If you read the Times article closely, you'll see that pilot whales are a species vulnerable to/affected by sonar. It's written as if the navy's use of sonar were just one possible reason, alongside global warming or swimming too close. Can't we presume that these sonars were the likely cause, not just a possible cause?
Just how much naval/submarine activity was there during theses periods? The Australian Navy may not have a big testing program ~as per poster below~ but I know they've allowed the use of coastal waters for weapons testing, including Depleted Uranium projectiles. These drills are called RIMPAC. The US also has secretive basing in Australia, according to http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0606/S00549.htm . See http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2006/2006-07-03-05.asp about sonar use at previous RIMPACs.
Somewhere I saw a picture of a deck crew in protective gear handling depleted uranium weaponry during RIMPAC, in that case small ammo for the on-deck guns. There may also be dumping of DU going on, as the US has a huge inventory of these WMD that they deliver free of charge anywhere in the world.
www.jbpeebles.blogspot.com
this is a very bad sign.
If poetry speaks to the spirit, it is not speaking to capitalists nor
coporatists. To reverse that, the people value nature while capitalism
sees all animal-life as a commodity to be exloited.
Patriarchy/capitalism with the licenses of "Manifest Destiny" and
"Man's Dominion Over Nature" exploit and war on all of Nature.
Overturn these systems and live --
Or continue to live in fear of them and die --
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"
All across the world, through every ocean, the word went out among the whales. "Our home has been filled with the garbage and every kind of poison by the land livers. Much of our food supply is dying, more is taken from the waters in large amounts by the big unspeaking things that ride on top of the oceans. We must search now to find enough to stay alive. Many of our young die soon after birth from the polluted waters. Terrible monsters now swim in our midst, and many of us die in their wake. We must throw ourselves on their beaches and try to make them understand what they are doing to us."
Along the way to the beach, the first volunteers swam near a pod of dolphins, and told them of their mission. The dolphins agreed that something must be done or none in the oceans would survive. "The land livers talk to us, the dolphins told them. Maybe they'll listen to us." So from the pod, some of the dolphins chose to go onto the beach with the whales.
wilmoor- beautiful, yet so sad.. When will we start moving in the direction of harmony with all of earth, before the earth no longer resembles what it did before we humans "took over.." We do not need to misuse all others to be able to live good, bountiful lives, we just need to realize how and then do it..
"Let's get together and feel alright.."
Beautifully said - !!!
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"
Yes,
How similarly poetic for a few million Americans to find themselves "beached upon the shores of Washington ( DC that is ) "
Namaste
I certainly do not have an inside track to the Australian Navy, but my understanding is that the Australians do not have an intensive sonar development and testing program as does the US. If they do, I do not think it would be in the Southern Ocean.
Bass Straight (where King Island sits) has unique and profound oceanographic conditions. All the recent strandings there have taken place during the worst drought in recent memory. Perhaps we are looking at a complex interaction between sediment runoff from the nearly-dry Murray River and the waters flowing through the Straight? I am not a marine mammal expert, so anything I say should be taken with a grain of salt.
Having said that, I suspect that it is not the military, but something far more complex. As the article says, it will likely remain a mystery.
Never criticize a man until you've walked a mile in their moccasins - Native American proverb.
W T F
Changes in ocean salinity may also have increased the conduction ( lack of attenuation ) of American sonar use, which is strong enough to travel around the globe when set to maximum pulse amplitude.
It's like seeing the backside of one's own head, after the sonar pulse of energy [ ping ] travels all the way around the world's oceans.
The initial sound power level is much above 160 dB ( what causes deafness in humans ), for those very long wavelengths ( very low frequency ) tones ( pings ) heard and used by Cetaceans ( and our navies ). All sounds travel four times faster underwater as well, so they receive far less attenuation than our above the water experience can easily understand.
Namaste
True.
Conduction is an electrical term, and does not exist in acoustic theory. You are correct about salinity affecting attenuation.
SURTASS generates 235dB signals.
The long propagation paths of which you speak are extremely limited, due to ocean floor topography (islands and continents are extremely effective in killing acoustic signals in water), and are also limited to traveling in the SOFAR channel. At depths above/below this channel (basically a thermo/saline inversion layer) acoustic signals attenuate very quickly, following classic inverse-distance-squared laws.
FWIW, only sperm whales ping, other whales sing.
Never criticize a man until you've walked a mile in their moccasins - Native American proverb.
The military, even in times of peace, is a stain on the world.
People who worship the military in any country are destructive fools.
Humans need to stay out of the water. They have no right to be there unless they learn to breath underwater.
Troublemakers extraordinary.