Whale Death sparks More Fears Over Military Sonar

The stranding and death of a Cuvier’s beaked whale in Hawaii has renewed concerns over the damaging impact of military sonar. The juvenile Cuvier’s beaked whale was found stranded on Monday 28th July on the small island of Molokai, in the vicinity of the world’s biggest multi-national naval exercise, RIMPAC. Naval sonar emits intense loud noise, which can be lethal to whales – particularly Cuvier’s beaked whales. Previous mass strandings related to naval sonar have been documented in the Canary Islands, Spain, the Bahamas, Greece and elsewhere, although usually whales strand in numbers, rather than individually. WDCS fears that the deaths known to be linked to sonar are just the tip of the iceberg. WDCS's Sarah Dolman said ‘Given that the stranding happened during the tactical phase of this major biennial naval exercise, the... [read full story]