Dead whales after NATO exercises

[Mister Frag 0]

From http://www.cnn.com/2004....ex.html

Quote[/b] ]Dead whales after NATO exercises

Monday, July 26, 2004 Posted: 3:55 PM EDT (1955 GMT)

FUERTEVENTURA COAST, Spain (Reuters) -- Two dead whales have landed in Spain's Canary Islands, raising fears they may have been hurt by NATO military exercises off Morocco and that more could have died, officials said on Friday.

The two whales arrived in the area within 24 hours and were dead for several days before their bodies drifted ashore, said Tony Gallardo, environmental expert with the local government of the island of Fuerteventura, one of the Canaries, which lies only about 100 km (60 miles) off the southern Moroccan coast.

"There is a strong suspicion that their deaths were related to the NATO exercises that finished a few days ago," Gallardo told Reuters.

Naval and air force units from 10 countries involving 20,000 troops and more than 20 warships took part in U.S.-led NATO military exercises off Morocco from July 11 to 16.

NATO officials had no comment.

The Canary Islands regional government dispatched a helicopter to search remote stretches of coastline after fishermen reported seeing something that looked like a third dead whale floating a few miles from the shore.

Fourteen whales beached in the Canaries in 2002 during multinational military exercises there. It was one of several mass strandings of whales that scientists have linked to the use of naval sonar systems.

A year later, researchers published a study in the science journal Nature that found sonar may cause a type of decompression sickness in whales and dolphins.

Scientists suspect sonar signals disorientate the mammals, forcing them to come up to the surface too quickly, which could cause the formation of damaging nitrogen bubbles in their tissue.

Military sonar systems blast areas of ocean with sound waves to detect submarines.

[blackdog~ 0]

Oh my god it's all George W. Bush's fault!

Oh wait, it's NATO as a whole. Though it's a shame that NATO was doing excersises for the good of the people of the world, it makes me even more angry that they killed two whales. What were they possibly thinking?

In all seriousness, would it not be a better idea to do exercises where whales do not live or migrate or do whatever they do each 'whale season'? Would save a lot of stress from whale-huggers...

[farmcoot 0]

My thoughts on the whales:

[DracoPaladore 0]

How does Sonar effect whales?

[bn880 5]

It's pretty bad and I believe it can be a cause, but war and preparations for war have always caused a lot of animals a lot of death in history... so does the growing human populaiton.

[bn880 5]

How does Sonar effect whales?

Well they use sonar to communicate and maybe navigate, so it is like your city being flooded with sounds from 60 to 30KHz at 120DB, you can't communicate with anyone by talking, so you run away ASAP. (it may even be painful)

anyway that's what I know so far, there are probably some good sources.

[raedor 8]

no, it's like you're driving on an "autobahn" with closed eyes.

[Grizzlie 0]

It is interesting.

Title:Dead whales after NATO exercises

Iside: ...raising fears they may (bold is mine) have been hurt by NATO military exercises...

Typical information about lackage of information.

I aggree that strong signal can affect of whales, but we even do not know if they were using active sonars.

I propose to wait till obduction.

[bn880 5]

no, it's like you're driving on an "autobahn" with closed eyes.

Well it's both.

[Baphomet 0]

Quote[/b] ]Oh my god it's all George W. Bush's fault!

Hm. I don't see anywhere in the original post where Dubya was even mentioned.

Which makes me wonder why you felt compelled to jump to the defend the honor of the chimp-eared buffoon in the first place.

At any rate. This is an unfortunate occurrence. What other sea life is at risk of similar effects from sonar other than whales? Is it easy enough to just move the exercises without risking other organisms?

[raedor 8]

@bn880: sure, i just wanted to show a more obvious example since not everybody knows what sounds from "60 to 30KHz at 120DB" are... ("what, my music is 44.000 Hz! so why should i care about 30kHz?!" or "in the config of my addon i defined +150db, but it is not very loud" )

@blackdog: yes, it's bush's fault! j/k

@grizzlie: when you're nit-picking, i can do, too. it is a fact, that the nato exercise was there in the region. and it is also a fact, that whales died. and these whales died after the exercises. that does not mean that they died because of the exercises...

[Mister Frag 0]

Quote[/b] ]Oh my god it's all George W. Bush's fault!

Hm. I don't see anywhere in the original post where Dubya was even mentioned.

Which makes me wonder why you felt compelled to jump to the defend the honor of the chimp-eared buffoon in the first place.

Did you ever hear of sarcasm?

I guess it was just blackdog's frustration with the widespread fascination of automatically blaming every evil in the world on George W. Bush.

If this thread turns into yet another outlet for political attacks or name-calling, I'll ask the moderators to lock this thread.

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]In all seriousness, would it not be a better idea to do exercises where whales do not live or migrate or do whatever they do each 'whale season'?

Ok let´s do naval exercises on solid ground then...

The only option left as water is a great transmitter of sound.

It´s a pity if those whales were really killed by NATO ships, but it´s hard to avoid such, don´t you think ?

And just for a sidenote. I understand why you got banned prior blackdog. It´s not really contributing to a thread if you voice your political direction here.

It where whales, nothing else. Bad enough.