Review of Hawaii whale-beaching

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

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Sonar Used Before Whales Hit Shore 
Navy Changes Story but Still Denies Responsibility 

By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post
August 31, 2004


The Navy has acknowledged that vessels on maneuver off Hawaii last month
used their sonar periodically in the 20 hours before a large pod of
melon-headed whales unexpectedly came to shore in the area. The
acknowledgment added to an already contentious debate over whether the
sound from sonar has been causing marine mammals to strand.

Navy officials said that a review of the July 3 incident indicates that
two ships turned on their sonar between 6:45 and 7:10 a.m., by most
accounts just before the unusual movement of almost 200 deep-water
whales to the shoreline of a Kauai bay. The Navy had said earlier that
no sonar was used until more than 90 minutes later, well after the
animals came ashore.

Lt. Cmdr. Greg Geisen, the Navy spokesman responsible for information
about the maneuver, said a Navy review of the incident still concluded
that the ships were either too far from the whales or were using the
sonar at the wrong time to cause the mass movement. 

"There is no evidence of a relationship here between the sonar use and
the whale behavior," he said.

But the newly released information from Geisen and other Navy officials
-- that the ships were testing their sonar in preparation for the
maneuver on the day before the whales came ashore, and early on the
morning of the near-stranding -- has caused some observers to question
that conclusion. 

 ,,,

for the entire article, see
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47256-2004Aug30.html

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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