IWC: Military, industry sonar harms whales
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Military, industry sonar harms whales - IWC report
ITALY: July 23, 2004
ROME - Sonar used by the military to spot enemy submarines is to blame
for increasing cases of whales being stranded on beaches and dying,
the scientific committee of the International Whaling Commission said
in a report this week.
The IWC report adds weight to theories that sonar harms the giant sea
mammals, a hypothesis that has been disputed by the military and by
the oil and gas industry which uses the technology to search for
energy reserves.
"There is now compelling evidence implicating military sonar as a
direct impact on beaked whales in particular," said the report,
released at the IWC's four-day annual convention which was winding up
yesterday.
The report cited examples of bizarre and self-destructive whale
behaviour that seemed to have been caused by military sonar, such as a
mass stampede of 200 melon-headed whales into shallow water in Hawaii
last month during a U.S.-Japanese naval training exercise. One animal
died.
Scientists are unsure exactly why sonar causes whales to get stranded.
One theory is that the noise disrupts their communication and
navigation systems. Another is that the signals confuse whales in deep
water, forcing them to surface quickly, suffering rapid decompression
and a form of the bends.
The report may strengthen the hand of U.S. conservation groups which
are threatening to sue the navy over its use of mid-frequency sonar.
BACK-FLIPS
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has already secured an
injunction limiting the U.S. Navy's use of new low-frequency sonar
that can travel vast distances through the oceans, and is now
targeting the more common mid-frequency sonar.
"This is the first time such a broad, diverse group (of scientists)
has made this finding," said NDRC lawyer Joel Reynolds. "Navies of the
world do back-flips to deny any connection."
The IWC, a 57-country intergovernmental body which regulates whaling,
said earlier in the week that oil and gas exploration off Russia's
Pacific coast threatened a colony of grey whales with extinction due
to sonar and the threat of pollution.
Energy firms blast noise waves down to the sea floor to detect the
presence of oil and gas reserves.
The IWC expressed concern about energy activities in the Sakhalin
Island region off Russia where Royal Dutch/Shell, Exxon Mobil and BP
operate.
Its scientific report also identified oil and gas exploration near the
Abrolhos Banks, a coral reef off Brazil, as a hazard for humpback
whales and called on the government to protect the mammals from the
noise.
Story by Robin Pomeroy