US Navy helps Spain probe whale stranding
Date: 03-Oct-02
Country: USA
Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Pauline Storum said Spain told the United States last Wednesday about the mass stranding, which some media reports suggest may have been caused by the use of active sonar during the naval exercises.
The United States sent its Mahan destroyer to participate in the maneuvers, but had no other ships in the area near the Canary Islands, which belong to Spain, Storum said.
"U.S. officials are determining the extent of the Mahan's participation and assisting the Spanish navy as best we can," she said, noting the stranding occurred when 12 ships were in the vicinity.
She had no comment on a report in Tuesday's Los Angeles Times, which said a preliminary analysis showed the three types of beaked whales that beached themselves had suffered ear and brain trauma that may have been caused by active sonar.
"Spanish defense officials immediately initiated an investigation and it would be inappropriate for us to comment about the cause of the stranding at this time," Storum said.
She acknowledged that nearly any military ship carried sonar equipment, but said the Navy was not certain which, if any sonars, were in operation at the time of the stranding.
"That is part of the investigation," she said.
Storum said the Navy was not using its powerful new low-frequency active sonar system, which scientists say could injure whales and other marine mammals.
The Natural Resources Defense Council and other groups in August sued the Navy to block use of the sonar, which is designed to blast wide areas of ocean with sound waves as it seeks to detect submarines equipped with "stealth" technology.
The Navy says the new sonar is safe for marine life and is needed to protect U.S. warships from a new breed of submarines that can barely be detected by conventional sonar systems.
But environmentalists say the new sonar produces ambient noise levels that might physically harm whales and other marine mammals or alter their migration.
Federal investigators have linked the mass stranding and death of several whale species in the Bahamas in March 2000 to the use of a Navy mid-frequency active sonar system.
Researchers reported similar mass strandings immediately after naval exercises in 1985, 1988, 1989 and 1991. Another mass die-off was reported in Greece after a 1996 NATO exercise involving active mid-frequency and low-frequency sonar, the Los Angeles Times reported.
But in those cases, researchers were unable to retrieve fresh tissues to determine the cause of the deaths.
