Perilous Times
7 November 2010 Last updated at 13:56 ET
33 Whales found dead on Irish beach
By Nuala McCann BBC News
Rutland Island Scientists examine the remains of the whales on Rutland
Island
Environmentalists are trying to establish how 33 whales beached and
died off the coast of County Donegal.
They were found on Rutland Island near Burtonport on Saturday.
It's thought they were the same group spotted in the Outer Hebrides at
the end of October.
Dr Simon Berrow of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group said it was one of
the biggest mass deaths of whales in Irish history.
He is concerned that Royal Navy sonar equipment could have played a
role.
"Thirty or 40 pilot whales were spotted off the Outer Hebrides at South
Uist last week," he said.
"It looked like they were going to strand. It was bad weather. They
were not seen again."
Cannot play media.You do not have the correct version of the flash
player. Download the correct version
Emear McGee: "They're a very strong social group... so the sick and the
healthy died here together"
Dr Berrow said the Royal Navy had been in the area off South Uist and
had moved away.
Campaigners were concerned that the latest sonar equipment could have
disturbed the navagational skills of this deep diving species of whales.
But a spokeswoman from the Royal Navy said that when the whales were
spotted near South Uist, the closest navy ship was 50 miles away.
At that distance, she said, there was no way that the sonar equipment
could have affected them.
whales The dead whales were found at Rutland Island
In the past, the navy has denied that sonar noise from their warships
could cause whales to beach.
However, in America, the US Navy was ordered not to use mid-frequency
sonar during training exercises from 2007 and 2009, after a judge found
in favour of campaigners who argued the devices harmed marine mammals
in the area.
A team from Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology travelled to the scene
off Donegal at the weekend to see if they could determine what had
happened.
Sixty whales died in the 1960s off the west coast of Kerry and 35 to 40
animals died in north Kerry in 2001.