Comments deafwhale has made

Navy Sonar and Whales

I been obsessed with solving the centuries-old mystery of why whales mass strand for over 35 years. I know more about this topic than any person alive today.

In fact, I was the first person to publish a paper using the words "deafness" and "auditory trauma" and "barotrauma" in association with whales and dolphins. Prior to my "Auditory Trauma as the Major Factor is Whale Strandings" published in 1987, acoustic injury was NEVER mentioned is scientific papers about whales and dolphin.

But back to the issue of Navy sonar. This tool was not really to blame for the Bahama's incident. Nor did Navy sonar cause the 200 melon-headed whales to go ashore in Hawaii. And, Navy sonar had nothing to do with the strandings on the outer banks in 2005.

It is true that at certain times beaked whales are vulnerable to cavitation injury when exposed to high powered sonar; however, cavitation in these animals can easily be avoided with the advance knowledge of their special vulnerability.

The good news is that I am now able to predict stranding 30 to 60 days in advance and within 200 miles of the stranding site. I envision that within a few years, rescue teams using my prediction methods will be able to zoom in on injured pods with Google Earth or some other similar satellite and follow these pods all the way to the shore. Pods will be turned away from the beach by small boats similar to how fishermen  in Japan and in the Faeroe Islands now drive injured pods ashore.

The future looks bright for pelagic pods.

Captain David Williams
Deafwhale Society, Inc. On Propaganda soft-pedals sonar impacts on marine mammals posted 1 year, 8 months ago 12 Responses