Whale Beachings

[Mighty_Emperor]

I know there have been lots of theories about this (including ley lines, contintental drift, etc.) but perhaps we are getting closer to answer.

Transcript

This is a transcript from PM. The program is broadcast around Australia at 5:10pm on Radio National and 6:10pm on ABC Local Radio.

You can also listen to the story in REAL AUDIO and WINDOWS MEDIA formats.


Scientists discover pattern to whales beaching themselves

PM - Thursday, 8 July , 2004 18:46:27
Reporter: Annie Guest

DAVID HARDAKER: The phenomenon of whales becoming stranded on beaches has been one of the most puzzling of biological mysteries, but researchers have told a marine science conference they no longer believe it's a random phenomenon.

Scientists studying strandings off south-east Australia have discovered a pattern to the incidents that coincides with a major climatic cycle and as Annie Guest reports from Hobart, that means it could be possible to predict the events.

(excerpt from Moby Dick "thar she blows")

ANNIE GUEST: Whales have attracted attention over the centuries as being mythical and mysterious creatures, from the benign recent depictions in Whale Rider to the great white beast of Moby Dick.

(excerpt from Moby Dick "thar she blows master. We're away! On the lee beam, two miles north")

But among the mysteries still attached to whales is why pods of them are routinely discovered beached on our shores.

For that at least we may now have an answer.

The University of Tasmania's Associate Professor Mark Hindell has discovered a 10 to 14-year cycle of whale strandings.

He says it's connected to a climatic condition where heavy winds push colder water from the sub-Antarctic.

MARK HINDELL: Well, we think they're cyclic. We've got very strong evidence now that they occur in a 10-year cycle, and you get a peak in the number of whales that strands every 10 years or so.

ANNIE GUEST: And what environmental process is it driving the cycles?

MARK HINDELL: Well it turns out that those cycles are very closely related to a major climatic event in this country which is called the zonal west winds which also occur on a 10-year cycle.

ANNIE GUEST: But how are those zonal west winds influencing the whales?

MARK HINDELL: Well what happens with the zonal west winds is that – they have a cycle as well – and in a year of high zonal west winds you have lots of storm events, you have lots of cold sub-Antarctic water coming up close to the Tasmanian coast than you normally do, and that will have influences in terms of the amount of food that's available. When there's more cold water, there's more food available, and so there are probably more whales in the area.

(sound of whales blowing air and making whale calls)

ANNIE GUEST: Mark Hindell studied every whale stranding in Tasmania and Victoria over the past 80 years as part of his research.

(sound of whales)

Mark Hindell says it's not as simple as a sheer rise in whale numbers increasing the amount of strandings.

MARK HINDELL: It's also likely, or possible, that the whales are also being affected by the storm events themselves and that may be having an effect as well.

ANNIE GUEST: But whales live in fairly deep water, this still doesn't explain why they end up beached.

MARK HINDELL: No, that's true, and one idea is that whales have a very low probability of stranding anyway, and that in years when there's lots of whales there, we're just getting more whales ashore.

I believe it's probably some kind of mix of the two, because with the influx of cold water, it may be that the food is also closer in shore than it is in other years.

ANNIE GUEST: He says the research is good news for the preservation of whales.

MARK HINDELL: Now we have some predictive ability about when we might have a large number of strandings, and so that means that the people associated with the rescue attempts can be a lot more organised.

ANNIE GUEST: And the Marine and Coastal Care Network has welcomed the findings.

Spokesman Tony Flaherty says it gives impetus to calls for a national network for whale rescuers and researchers.

TONY FLAHERTY: This research can help pinpoint some factors that we can then use to try and work out where we should be placing resources to deal with whale strandings around Australia.

ANNIE GUEST: And what's the current status of resources to deal with whale strandings?

TONY FLAHERTY: Well, although each State deals with them in different ways, there's no national coordination, and one of the things that whale researchers have recently met about is to try and push for a national network to deal with whale strandings, both for the animal welfare issues of responding, but also to get the necessary coordination of scientific data.

DAVID HARDAKER: Tony Flaherty from the Marine and Coastal Care Network with what may be a possible key to the whale stranding puzzle. Annie Guest with that report.

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2004/s1149829.htm

Emps

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

New whale-stranding suspect

Sonar: Scientists are looking at the acoustical ping-pings of Navy ships as a cause of marine mammals losing their way and dying.

By Dennis O'Brien
Sun Staff

Originally published October 11, 2004

It remains one of the great mysteries of marine science: Why do whales and other marine mammals strand themselves, swimming into shallow waters and washing ashore to die?

Decades of research show that many of the strandings are caused by age-old maritime hazards: collisions with ships, infections from parasites, starvation and old age.

But scientists have a new suspect these days: Navy sonar.

Whales, dolphins and other marine mammals use echolocation - a kind of natural sonar -to detect predators, hunt for food, find mates, keep track of offspring and orient themselves in a dark and murky world.

"These are acoustic animals, they use sound the way we use vision to orient ourselves and find their way," said Brandon Southall, an expert on marine mammal bioacoustics with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Some marine mammal experts say that Navy sonar, which generates intense sound waves that bounce off objects to reveal their location, confuses the animals and disrupts normal ability to navigate.

Sonar-related strandings are occurring more often as the Navy increases its use of sonar in coastal areas. Since the 1980s, it has caused the stranding of dozens of marine mammals, said the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a California environmental group.

Navy officials say that sonar - by itself - does not automatically cause whale strandings.

"The idea that there's a cause and effect relationship is tenuous at best," said Capt. Mark Boensel, director of environmental readiness for the Chief of Naval Operations.

Navy sonar isn't the only potential problem. Oil company geologists blast ocean beds with high powered air guns to find deep-sea oil deposits. About 80,000 commercial ships, fishing boats and other craft ply oceans every day, sending waves of sound into the depths.

"The oceans are extremely noisy places," said Mardi C. Hastings, a scientist in the Office of Naval Research. Hastings spoke last month at an NOAA-sponsored gathering on marine mammals and noise at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

At Congress' urging, the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission has set up an advisory panel to find ways to reduce the impact of noise created by all three sources. The group is holding hearings and will issue a report in the spring.

Meanwhile, Navy sonar faces the most intense scrutiny. NRDC sued the Navy two years ago over a plan to use a new type of low-frequency sonar which, environmentalists claimed, would harm whales and other mammals. The group won a judgment that restricts sonar use to Asian waters. But now it's considering another suit over the Navy's more widely used, mid-frequency sonar, deployed in training exercises on 60 percent of the Navy's 300 vessels.

"We don't think that whales should have to die for what are essentially practice sessions," said Joel Reynolds, an NRDC lawyer.

Navy officials say close-in sonar training is critical to deal with a new generation of quieter, diesel-electric submarines, acquired by several foreign navies, that threaten coastal areas.

Navy officials acknowledge that given the right conditions - as occurred in the Bahamas in 2000 - sonar can kill whales. Seventeen, mostly rare beaked whales, stranded themselves over 150 miles of shoreline within 24 hours after a Navy exercise.

But in that case, an unusual mix of conditions, including sea-floor topography, ocean temperatures and salinity levels, combined with the sonar to cause the strandings, Boensel said.

After the Bahamas incident, Boensel said, the Navy stopped using sonar in the area and avoids waters with similar conditions. Navy officials say they also try to minimize damage by shutting down sonar within 500 yards of marine mammals, training lookouts to spot the animals at sea and holding exercises in waters where whales don't normally swim.

The Navy also spends million a year to study the problem - 70 percent of all U.S. research on the subject. And it dispatches scientists tostrandings each time one is reported. "The U.S. Navy does not go out to sea with the intention of harming animals," Boensel said. "That's not what we're about."

Most of the strandings are confined to a species. "It's the beaked whales that seem to have some type of sensitivity to midrange sonar," said Frank Stone, the Navy's marine mammal program manager.

Exactly why is a mystery.

"We just don't have enough hard data on their physiology and behavior to do anything besides speculate," said James Mead of the Smithsonian Institution, a nationally known expert on beaked whales.

One reason so little is known is that the animals are so elusive - diving as deep as 4,000 feet.

In research near Italy this summer, scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute tracked four beaked whales by attaching miniature acoustic recorders to their bodies. They discovered that the whales only begin to make the clicking sounds they use to locate prey at depths of about 650 feet.

"With these animals, studying their ability to communicate is hard," Southall said. "No one's really sure exactly how it works."

A report last year in the journal Nature theorized that sonar off the Canary Islands near Africa in 2002 prompted 10 beaked whales to surface too quickly, causing decompression sickness, an ailment known among divers as the bends. Others contest that theory.

Scientists say the sonar pulses can reach 235 decibels - the volume of a jet engine up close - but Navy officials say the noise dissipates quicklyaway from a ship or submarine.

Even so, scientists say whales have extremely sensitive hearing, and some think they panic when they hear a loud sonar ping, interpreting it as a threat. That panic may trigger a toxic reaction as the whale races away to escape.

"It's just fright and flight," said Kenneth C. Balcolm, a marine mammal expert at the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, Wash.

Balcolm videotaped schools of porpoises and killer whales fleeing from a Navy destroyer that was using sonar in Haro Strait last year. The killer whales raised their heads out of the water - an unusual behavior for them - while the porpoises split into groups and swam away "as fast as possible," he said.

Over the next 10 days, a dozen porpoises stranded themselves in nearby waters, an unusually high number, Balcolm says. He believes the sonar caused the strandings - a conclusion the Navy disputes.

Concerns about noise pollution in the oceans - raised whenever a whale stranding makes headlines - are beginning to grab public attention, said Michael Jasny, a senior policy consultant for the NRDC.

The interest, he said, is comparable to past concerns that inspired laws aimed at cleaning up air and waterways. "I think we're at the beginnings of a movement," he said.

---------------
Copyright © 2004, The Baltimore Sun

Source

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Experts puzzled over whale strandings

By Matthew Denholm and Annabelle McDonald
30nov04

A MASSIVE rescue operation is under way off the southeast coast of Tasmania after two mysterious strandings of long-finned pilot whales and bottle-nosed dolphins within 24 hours of each other claimed the lives of 115 animals.

But after rushing to the scene of the deaths, rescuers and volunteers on Maria Island had saved 22 pilot whales beached at Darlington Bay by lifting them back into the water with slings.

Scientists will begin today investigating the cause of the two incidents just a couple of hundred of kilometres apart.

Some whale researchers believe the strandings are linked to a 10 to 12-year atmospheric cycle, which will peak this summer - raising fears of more beachings in the months ahead.

Whale strandings are more frequent in Tasmania than any other state and are reasonably common in summer.

University of Tasmania zoologist Mark Hindell said the most likely explanation was linked to cyclical atmospheric changes that had brought sub-Antarctic waters closer to Tasmania. "These are more productive waters with more food for the whales, so they are coming further north than normally," Professor Hindell said.

About 70 wildlife officers and volunteers, including backpackers, farmers and a visiting school group on the former penal settlement of Maria Island were last night battling to save about nine animals.

But their rescue effort, launched about 10.30am yesterday, failed to save 19 whales. And rescuers fear those rescued - plus a pod of more than 40 dolphins lurking only metres offshore - may be beached again by the morning.

That frustrating scenario was also played out over the weekend on King Island, on Tasmania's northwest coast. Seventeen pilot whales kept from beaching on Sunday night by a flotilla of rescue craft were found dead yesterday afternoon. At least 25 dolphins and 55 pilot whales had already died at nearby Sea Elephant Bay, by yesterday morning.

Whale researcher Peter Gill said pilot whales - typically deep-water animals - could be lured into shallow waters by naturally occurring magnetic forces, which they use as a navigation tool. Also, the whales may leave the deep water past the continental shelf to escape predators or to chase food.

Source

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

And now another in NZ:

A mystery of mass death

By Andrew Darby
December 1, 2004



The discovery of a third mass stranding of pilot whales within 24 hours in the region - this time on New Zealand's North Island - has raised new questions about why such incidents happen.

About 60 pilot whales died on remote Opoutere Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula, south-east of Auckland, after going ashore on Sunday.

It happened about the same time that 73 pilot whales and 25 dolphins died in a stranding on King Island, in Bass Strait. On Monday, another 50 pilot whales were stranded on a beach at Maria Island on Tasmania's east coast; 19 died.

"It's horrific that this is happening on such a large scale," said Museum of Victoria curator Mark Norman.

"This is not something you can write off as one whale getting the direction to the beach wrong."

Scientists yesterday began autopsies of the animals, taking tissue samples that might help find links that show if the three mass strandings were anything more than a coincidence. Research by University of Tasmania zoologists has found there have been more strandings in a decade-long cycle of strong winds. But, in an effort to understand why so many whales should become stranded so quickly, the focus is on human noise, changes in the Earth's magnetic field and prey movement.
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Greens leader Bob Brown has called for a halt to seismic testing for oil and gas north-west of King Island. He said the testing also occurred a year ago, at the same time that whales died in two Tasmanian strandings - nine sperm whales in one, and 110 pilot whales and 20 dolphins in another.

But the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association said research had shown no lethal effect on whales from seismic testing.

But increasing concern is being expressed by organisations such as the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research and the World Conservation Union about the effect of noise on whales.

Pilot whales are believed to navigate using the Earth's magnetic field. Pioneering research by Cambridge University's Dr Margaret Klinowska on stranding sites shows that whales may make navigational errors if geomagnetic contours lead them ashore.

The magnetic field is influenced mainly by the Earth's molten outer core.

Solar storms can also bring havoc for electricity circuits and communications - as can the kind of aurora australis seen in the skies early last month.

There is speculation that such changes could affect animals that depend on magnetic fields for navigation.

"We occasionally get calls from pigeon fanciers wondering what's happened to their missing pigeons," said Garth Patterson of the Ionospheric Prediction Service in Sydney.

"But nothing of significance has been happening in recent days."

That leaves prey movements. Pilot whales normally feed in the deep ocean on squid and fish.

Squid specialist Dr George Jackson, of the University of Tasmania, said there had been no known mass spawning locally that might have drawn whales into shore.

"I guess, all you can say about that is that it's really difficult," said Philippa Brakes, a scientist with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

"Is this a pattern or a coincidence? I think you would have to say it's a pattern. It's more than likely to have one cause."

Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell said last night the Government would fund a national database to help find out why the strandings happened. The Government had spent more than $3 million on research into marine mammals, including an assessment of a national strandings network.

Source

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

An overview of the three strandings:

Officials stumped by Australia, NZ whale beachings

30 Nov 2004 08:08:34 GMT


By Paul Tait

SYDNEY, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Scientists and wildlife officials continued to search on Tuesday for what may have caused a series of mass strandings which left 169 whales and dolphins dead on Australian and New Zealand beaches in the past three days.

Authorities and volunteers worked through Monday night to save dozens of whales and dolphins after three separate beachings in Australia and New Zealand.

By Tuesday, 96 long-finned pilot whales and bottle-nosed dolphins had died after the first beaching on Sunday at King Island, midway between the Australian mainland and the southern island state of Tasmania.

Tasmanian wildlife officer Shane Hunniford said another 19 long-finned pilot whales had died in a separate beaching on Monday on Maria Island, 60 km (37 miles) east of the Tasmanian capital Hobart.

He said 43 whales had beached themselves on Maria Island but officials had managed to save 24 that had been found alive.

Across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand, a mass grave was dug on a beach at Opoutere, 100 km (62 miles) east of Auckland on the North Island, for 53 dead pilot whales. Officials said 73 whales had become stranded there on Sunday, but 20 were saved.

Of those 20, more were expected to die because many were too weak to follow the others out to sea.

"Some of them had suffered pretty significantly on the beach," New Zealand conservation department manager John Gaukrodger told reporters.

Later on Tuesday, a 10-metre (33 feet) sperm whale washed up on a beach west of Auckland. Officials said they were not sure if the whale had died at sea and washed up or had stranded itself. They said it was not linked to the Opoutere beaching.

Hunniford said it was unlikely there was any connection between the Australian and New Zealand beachings, with the mass strandings no more than just unfortunate coincidences.

"If you look at spaceship Earth, Tasmania and New Zealand both stick out into the Southern Ocean and that's a playground for whales and dolphins," Hunniford told Reuters.

"There are a number of theories. We're not pinning our hat on any of them," he said of the Tasmanian beachings.

The Australian government also said on Tuesday that it would establish a national database on whale strandings.

"We are not sure why these tragedies happen but it's important that we coordinate existing scientific work to establish the reasons why these creatures become stranded," Environment Minister Ian Campbell said in a statement.

Bob Brown, leader of Australia's Greens party, said earlier on Tuesday that ocean seismic tests for oil and gas should be stopped until the whale migration season ends.

Brown, a senator in the Australian parliament, said "sound bombing" of ocean floors to test for oil and gas had been carried out near the sites of the Tasmanian beachings recently.

He said in a statement that research data on the possible impact of such practices on marine life was inconclusive.

Sheryl Gibney, a rescue coordinator with New Zealand's Project Jonah, said high offshore winds and plentiful supplies of mackerel close to the coast could be possible explanations.

"Normally with pilot whales, because they're so closely socially bonded, if one gets into trouble the others are not going to leave," Gibney said.

"Some will come in and try and assist it, they get stranded, then more will come."

Source

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

An explanation:

Winds theory on fatal beaching of whales

By Andrew Darby
November 30, 2004


Volunteers and Parks and Wildlife officers battle to rescue beached pilot whales on Maria Island, Tasmania.

Volunteers and Parks and Wildlife officers battle to rescue beached pilot whales on Maria Island, Tasmania.
Photo: Peter Mathew

The two mass strandings of pilot whales at opposite ends of Tasmania have given deadly weight to a theory connecting the events to a weather pattern.

But the appearance in nearby waters of a naval fleet has also raised concerns about a possible man-made cause.

University of Tasmania scientists predicted in July that whale strandings were more likely as the predominant west winds over the Southern Ocean increased in strength on a roughly decadal cycle.

Zoologist Mark Hindell said the winds brought colder, more nutrient-rich waters. More fish came to waters around Tasmania, drawing deep ocean dwellers such as pilot whales closer to shore in search of prey.

Tasmania is now notorious for whale strandings, with pilot whales and sperm whales regular victims on shallow shelving beaches that fool the animals' sonar. Often whales are also trapped in the hooked corners of long beaches by falling tides.

But associate Professor Hindell and Dr Karen Evans have found a reason for more whales to be in these waters as they researched more than 300 strandings in the region over the past 80 years.
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"We found a noticeable peak linked to the winds, which are a well-known climatic feature," Professor Hindell said. "The low pressure ridges move up and down latitudinally, bringing a lot more winds to some areas. Probably we are at the peak now."

About a year ago, 110 long-finned pilot whales and 20 bottlenose dolphins died on a beach at Hibbs Bay, south of Strahan, in Tasmania's far south-west. Zoologist David Pemberton said they could have been chasing prey when they became disoriented, or they might have been pursued by such predators as killer whales.

In June, four sperm whales died on a beach near Strahan, and after several days' work a fifth was herded safely out to sea.

The US Navy has been ordered by a court to stop the use of high-intensity sonar linked with the beaching of beaked whales, which were found in an autopsy to have hearing damage.

An Australian Navy spokesman said six warships from the RAN and the RNZN were west of Bass Strait last Thursday on their way to Portland, Melbourne and Hobart where they anchored at the weekend.

The spokesman was unaware if high power active sonar was in use by any of these ships last week, but said no scientifically demonstrable link had been found between Australian sonar and stranding of whales. "Australian sonar on our ships is a very different technology from the US technology, and it works on a different frequency," he said.

Source

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

A transcript looking into different ideas:

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT

LOCATION: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2004/s1255082.htm

Broadcast: 30/11/2004

Whale strandings no surprise to climatologists

Reporter: Jocelyn Nettlefold

KERRY O'BRIEN: Marine biologists are carrying out forensic tests to find out why hundreds of whales and dolphins beached themselves in three separate incidents in Tasmania and New Zealand over the past two days.

But the spate of mass strandings came as little surprise to scientists and climatologists at the University of Tasmania.

They've established a correlation between such incidents and particular weather patterns, in which the hunt for food brings the ocean mammals close to shore.

While it may not offer a definitive answer to one of nature's mysteries, the research could provide an important piece in a giant puzzle.

Jocelyn Nettlefold reports.

JOCELYN NETTLEFOLD: When whales and dolphins suddenly become stranded on our shores, the first human reaction is to save the living and return them to the sea.

But now that the rescue of two dozen pilot whales off Tasmania's east coast overnight appears to have been successful, it's time to see whether the dead can surrender any secrets.

Scientists are measuring the carcasses littering beaches at King and Maria islands.

They're also taking skin and stomach samples.

DR ROSEMARY GALES, TASMANIAN NATURE CONSERVATION BRANCH: The more we learn about the animals, although they're deceased, it puts us in a better position to try to understand why in fact they do strand.

JOCELYN NETTLEFOLD: Dr Rosemary Gales is overseeing the forensic investigation into the strandings, which she says is further complicated by the fact that both dolphins and whales were involved.

DR ROSEMARY GALES: Often when you've got two species, it's not merely topography or it's not merely a sick animal in one pod.

There may be other factors at play.

In other strandings, we've known that other predators - killer whales, for example - have been involved in causing the stranding.

I'm not saying that was the case in this one.

JOCELYN NETTLEFOLD: While scientists struggle to find the reason why these toothed whales ended up on the beach, members of the Antarctic Wildlife Research Unit do know that they accurately predicted that these strandings would happen.

DR KAREN EVANS, UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA: Certainly we're seeing a lot more strandings, particularly this year and last year, which really does coincide with that peak in the stranding events that we saw through our studies.

PROFESSOR MARK HINDELL, UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA: So what's the biggest beak we've ever got from one of these sperm whale stomachs?

DR KAREN EVANS: One of the southern Antarctic species gets up to --

JOCELYN NETTLEFOLD: By analysing the stomach contents from dead whales and working with climatologists, these zoologists have established a pattern of whale strandings around Tasmania.

DR KAREN EVANS: It certainly allows us to be better prepared in knowing when these peaks are so we can gear ourselves up to be able to attend these strandings in a much more efficient manner.

JOCELYN NETTLEFOLD: The weather appears to be central to the stranding cycle.

Every decade or so, atmospheric changes bring cooler sub-Antarctic waters further north.

Those waters are rich in squid and fish - the favoured prey of whales and dolphins - so, naturally, the mammals follow their food source, meaning that a lot more of them are spotted around Australia's coastline.

PROFESSOR MARK HINDELL: Tasmania is probably one of the stranding capitals of the world, if you like.

Because it's poking down into the southern ocean, we get a lot more strandings here than anywhere else, so we're in a better position to pick up these patterns than a lot of other places.

JOCELYN NETTLEFOLD: So the fact that you've established a pattern, does it bring you closer to answering the question "why"?

PROFESSOR MARK HINDELL: It's certainly a step in that direction.

It's still going to be a long way before we can actually say what's causing particular strandings, but as I say, once we know the pattern, it gives us some insights into the behaviour of the animals if nothing else.

JOCELYN NETTLEFOLD: Some fear the toothed whales could have become confused and alarmed by seismic activity associated with Bass Strait oil exploration hundreds of kilometres away.

Professor Hindell isn't convinced delicate whale sonar navigation systems are affected by such sound waves, but says perhaps until the theory is disproved, caution should prevail.

PROFESSOR MARK HINDELL: There have been suggestions in the past that seismic exploration may have been associated with strandings in the US.

It certainly hasn't been the case in Australia, but maybe one of the things that could could come from our work is that if mining companies are wanting to minimise any possibility of this, then they could take notice of the years we expect lots of strandings and minimise their exploration during those times.

JOCELYN NETTLEFOLD: A spokesman for the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association says the industry already observes precautionary measures which ban seismic work within a certain vicinity of whales and their breeding grounds.

For exhausted volunteers and wildlife officers, the frustrating postscript to these whale strandings is that it appears that they were just a warm-up.

A busy summer seems inevitable.

PROFESSOR MARK HINDELL: We won't see a drop-off if our patterns are correct - it won't be for another four or five years until we go into the next trough - so there'll still be strandings throughout this year and next year.

KERRY O'BRIEN: Jocelyn Nettlefold reporting.

Source

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Whale strandings linked to quakes

Wednesday, 1 December 2004


More than 90 whales and dolphins have died in two separate beaching incidents in Tasmania.Mavis Burgess

A marine biologist from the International University of the Sea believes scientists may be able to prevent future whale and dolphin strandings by studying the affect of earthquakes.

Biologist Eric Mitran, based in Queensland, thinks there is a link between recent earth tremors in New Zealand and Tasmania and three strandings in the areas this week which caused the deaths of more than 150 whales and dolphins.

He says migrating animals, like birds and marine animals, follow magnetic field lines on the sea's surface which could be modified during an earthquake, throwing them off course.

"If there is a slight modification of these magnetic field lines, they just follow the grade and not the land which means that following the grade they can strand anywhere, if there is an obstacle on the normal route they would follow," he said.

"It could be possible to predict whether they would drift south, north, east or west and in this case try to drive them a bit like a sheep, try to drive them to avoid the bad area."

Dr Mitran doubts seismic testing for oil and gas could affect the magnetic field lines.

"This modification of the magnetic field lines are coming from movements of the deep core of the earth and I don't think any sort of human activity - this type of activity whatsoever - really affects the centre and the core itself," he said.


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Last Updated: 01/12/2004 16:34:00 (AEDT)

Source

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

I also posted the whale strandings reports over at TONMO and Steve O'Shea has had a chance to get his hands on one of the NZ whales, cut it open and rumage through the stomach contents. He posted the photographs (which are awfully interesting if a tad grim) in that thread too if you are interested.

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

There has been another Tasmanian beaching the day after the SE Asian quake:

www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19588

There may be other links to the earlier (24th December) Macquarie Islands quake:

www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 899#478899

There is also discussion of the connection between these beachings, squid movements and the tsunami/quakes at TONMO:

www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3584

-----------
Anyway a news report on latest beachings:

Coastal patrols monitor Tas whale beachings

Tuesday, 28 December 2004

Wildlife officers have spent the night patrolling a section of Tasmania's rugged west coast after the discovery of at least 19 sperm whale carcasses.

Residents of Trial Harbour found four dead females on Ocean Beach south of the town yesterday morning.

Later, wildlife officers found another 15 in the surf off a less accessible section of the beach, and they are investigating reports of another sighting of a dead sperm whale.

Wildlife ranger Chris Arthur says most of the animals are about eight metres long and there could be more in the pod.

He says it is hoped the weather will allow helicopter surveillance of the coast today.

"We've notified the marine authorities there could be an issue with whales in that section of the coast, especially with the yacht races moving down the west coast, and so basically it's a watching brief," he said.

A zoologist says it is possible there is a link between tidal surges from the Indonesian earthquake and tsunami and the whale deaths.

University of Tasmania zoologist Mark Hindell says tidal surges from seismic activity may have contributed to the latest deaths.

"It is possible, in fact there was a small amount of seismic activity just before the last strandings as well, but we also get many, many strandings when we don't get any seismic activity," he said.

"So it's very difficult to tease out hard and fast rules for this sort of thing."

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Last Updated: 28/12/2004 07:09:00 (AEDT)

Source

Pod of 20 Whales Beached on Remote Australia Coast

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 28 December 2004: - - SYDNEY - Twenty adult female sperm whales have been found washed up on a remote Australian beach but wildlife officials on Tuesday were unable to explain the third such mass stranding in the same area in a month.

The whales, each between seven and 10 metres (23-32 ft) long, were discovered dead late on Monday on a beach near Strahan, 180 km (110 miles) west of Hobart on the southern island state of Tasmania. Scientists said it was impossible to tell if the mass beaching was linked to a huge earthquake recorded between Tasmania and Antarctica last week.

"It's very hard to pinpoint those sort of things because ... this year has been a year when we've had lots of strandings anyway and obviously they've all happened without an earthquake," zoologist Mark Hindell said. The Australian government has said it would set up a national database on whale strandings. Last month, 115 long-finned pilot whales died in two separate strandings on Tasmanian beaches.

Bob Brown, leader of Australia's Greens party, expressed concern last month that those strandings might have been linked to "sound bombing" of the ocean floor used in seismic tests for oil and gas.

Wildlife officials said it was not unusual that all the dead whales in the latest stranding were females.

"The males travel in bachelor pods or big solitary breeding males and the females travel in either nursery pods or non-breeding pods, so it is quite a normal pattern for these animals," Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Serve ranger Chris Arthur told ABC radio.

Source

This report gives a timeline of events and links the whole set of events (beachings and earthquakes on oil prosepction:

Earthquake: Coincidence or a Corporate Oil Tragedy?

December 28, 2004
By: Andrew Limburg

Independent Media TV


Now I don’t claim to be an expert on seismic activity, but there has been a series of events which led up to the 9.0 earthquake of the coast of Indonesia which can not be ignored. This all could be an enormous coincidence, but one must look at the information and choose for themselves whether there is anything to it.

On November 28th, one month ago, Reuters reported that during a 3 day span 169 whales and dolphins beached themselves in Tasmania, an island of the southern coast of mainland Australia and in New Zealand. The cause for these beachings is not known, but Bob Brown, a senator in the Australian parliament, said "sound bombing" or seismic tests of ocean floors to test for oil and gas had been carried out near the sites of the Tasmanian beachings recently.

According to Jim Cummings of the Acoustic Ecology Institute, Seismic surveys utilizing airguns have been taking place in mineral-rich areas of the world’s oceans since 1968. Among the areas that have experienced the most intense survey activity are the North Sea, the Beaufort Sea (off Alaska’s North Slope), and the Gulf of Mexico; areas around Australia and South America are also current hot-spots of activity.

The impulses created by the release of air from arrays of up to 24 airguns create low frequency sound waves powerful enough to penetrate up to 40km below the seafloor. The “source level" of these sound waves is generally over 200dB (and often 230dB or more), roughly comparable to a sound of at least 140-170dB in air.

According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, these 200dB – 230dB shots from the airguns are fired every few seconds, from 10 meters below the surface, 24 hours a day, weather permitting.

These types of tests are known to affect whales and dolphins, whose acute hearing and use of sonar is very sensitive.

On December 24th there was a magnitude 8.1 earthquake more than 500 miles southeast of Tasmania near New Zealand, with a subsequent aftershock 6.1 a little later in the morning that same day.

On December 26th, the magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck at the intersection of the Australian tectonic plate and the India tectonic plate. This is the devastating tragedy that we have all heard about. The death toll of this horrific event has reached 52,000 souls and continues to rise.

On December 27th, 20 whales beached themselves 110 miles west of Hobart on the southern island state of Tasmania.

What is interesting about this is that the same place where the whale beachings have been taking place over the last 30 days is the same general area where the 8.1 Australian earthquake took place, and this is the same area where they are doing these seismic tests. Then 2 days after the Australian tectonic plate shifted, the 9.0 earthquake shook the coast of Indonesia.

A great deal of interest and seismic testing has been taking place in this area, as the government of Australia has given great tax breaks to encourage the oil exploration.

We will be following up on this story as more information is gathered.

Source

And it also comes with good diagrams of the quake epicentres, etc.

---------------------
Steve O' Shea has been autopsying the NZ whales and is presening his results over at TONMO (the pictures, where they are some, aren't as grim as the one's in my previous post, its largely just details on stomach contents):

In order they are:

www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3538

www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3543

www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3547

www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3553

www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3554

www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3555

www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3557

www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3559

www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3561

www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3586

They should provide an idea of their migratory patterns and esp. where they were prior to their beachings.

 

[TheQuixote]

another theory- this time linked to chemical poisoning.

Banned chemical may cause deafness in whales

January 28 2005 at 08:11PM

New Haven, Connecticut - A toxic chemical used to prevent barnacles from clinging to ship hulls may cause deafness in marine mammals and could lead whales to beach themselves, Yale University researchers say.

The hearing loss would be the latest environmental hazard linked to TBT, a chemical already known to be harmful to some aquatic life. TBT is banned in many countries but is still widely used.

Yale researchers based their theory on a study of guinea pigs, because mammals have similar ear structure.

Since many marine mammals use sonar to get around, "it's possible this could be contributing to whales and dolphins beaching and hitting ships", said Joseph Santos-Sacchi, professor of surgery and neurobiology at Yale School of Medicine.

"I think it's a reasonable hypothesis that this could possibly be happening," said Theo Colborn, a senior fellow at the World Wildlife Fund who has studied TBT but was not involved in the Yale research. "It sounds very logical."

Many scientists also believe the beaching of whales occurs for non-chemical reasons - primarily the Navy's use of sonar.

The Yale study will be published in the Biophysical Journal in March. - Sapa-AP

Independent Online-SA

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

More dolphin beachings:

Monday, March 7, 2005 · Last updated 9:30 a.m. PT

Dolphin beaching came after sub exercise


KEY WEST, Fla. -- The Navy and marine wildlife experts are investigating whether the beaching of dozens of dolphins in the Florida Keys followed the use of sonar by a submarine on a training exercise off the coast.

More than 20 rough-toothed dolphins have died since Wednesday's beaching by about 70 of the marine mammals, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary spokeswoman Cheva Heck said Saturday.

A day before the dolphins swam ashore, the USS Philadelphia had conducted exercises with Navy SEALs off Key West, about 45 miles from Marathon, where the dolphins became stranded.

Navy officials refused to say if the submarine, based at Groton, Conn., used its sonar during the exercise.

Some scientists surmise that loud bursts of sonar, which can be heard for miles in the water, may disorient or scare marine mammals, causing them to surface too quickly and suffer the equivalent of what divers know as the bends - when sudden decompression forms nitrogen bubbles in tissue.

"This is absolutely high priority," said Lt. Cdr. Jensin Sommer, spokeswoman for Norfolk, Va.-based Naval Submarine Forces. "We are looking into this. We want to be good stewards of the environment, and any time there are strandings of marine mammals, we look into the operations and locations of any ships that might have been operating in that area."

Experts are conducting necropsies on the dead dolphins, looking for signs of trauma that could have been inflicted by loud noises.

Source

 

[TheQuixote]

Whales 'led astray by magnetism'
By Dr David Whitehouse
BBC News website, science editor

Increased solar activity causing disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field may cause whales to run aground in the North Sea, say researchers.
Analysis of whales stranded between 1712 and 2003 shows that more are stranded when solar activity is high.

Writing in the Journal of Sea Research, scientists propose that whales use the Earth's magnetic field to assist navigation like homing pigeons do.

As the Sun disrupts the magnetic field whales can become confused, they say.

Animal magnetism

The Sun goes through a cycle with an average length of about 11 years, though individual cycle lengths have ranged from eight to 17 years.

Some evidence exists to suggest that shorter cycles produce a higher flux of radiation from the Sun.

Dr Klaus Vanselow and colleagues from the University of Kiel have analysed the lengths of solar cycles and have found that 87 of the 97 reported sperm whale strandings over the past 300 years in the North Sea region occurred when the length of the Sun's activity cycle was below average.

They argue that whales may be like pigeons and dolphins in having a magnetic sense based on small crystals of magnetite found in certain cells.
Pigeons use such cells to sense the Earth's magnetic field to help in their navigation. Pigeon enthusiasts are well aware that the birds can go astray during times of high solar activity, when disturbances in the magnetic field confuse them.

"It may be the same for whales," Dr Vanselow told the BBC News website. "Sperm whales migrate long distances with very little visual clues as to where they are going. It would be unsurprising if they too had a magnetic sense.

"We believe that our research showing that more whales are beached during times when the Sun disrupts the Earth's magnetic field makes it a strong possibility that they do."

The numbers of cetacean - whale, dolphin and porpoise - strandings around the UK have doubled over the last 10 years.

Marine mammal experts say an increase in fishing activity, which leads to more "by-catch", is a major cause of the problem.

Campaigners also claim increased noise in the oceans, coming from ships' engines and sonar, is a significant factor in whales losing their way.

If you find a dead stranded whale or dolphin around the UK coast, contact:


England: 020 794 25 155 (The Natural History Museum)
Scotland: 01463 243 030 (Scottish Agricultural College)
Wales: 01348 875 000 (Marine Environmental Monitoring)
If you find a live stranded whale or dolphin around the UK coast, contact:


Scotland: The Cetacean Research & Rescue Unit on 01261 851696 or the SSPCA on 08707 377722
England and Wales: BDMLR on 01825 765546 or RSPCA on 0870 5555999

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/s ... 538959.stm
Published: 2005/05/13 08:11:12 GMT

© BBC MMV

 

[ramonmercado]

Navy denies Tasmania whale deaths

Navy denies Tasmania whale deaths
By Phil Mercer
BBC News, Sydney




The Australian navy has denied its ships were behind the mysterious deaths of whales in Tasmania.
At least 130 pilot whales died after beaching themselves on Tasmania's rugged Marian Bay.

Environmentalists want to know if the navy's sonar equipment can actually disrupt the navigation systems of whales and dolphins.

Scientists have taken samples from the dead mammals as they try to work out why such mass strandings occur.

Disorientated

No-one knows why so many ended up on the beach.

Australian defence officials have said there is nothing to suggest that the presence of naval vessels using high-frequency sonar was to blame.

Other experts have speculated that the stricken animals had become disorientated in unpredictable coastal waters.

Rosemary Gales, who is a marine biologist, says it is not the first time that whales have died in such large numbers in the area.

"This is a bad one," she said. "It's certainly not the most extreme, but Marian Bay unfortunately has a sad history of having mass strandings of pilot whales.

"But on a good note, these animals are small enough to rescue and so at least we have been able to put some back to sea."

Wildlife officials have been forced to dig large graves in the sand to bury the carcasses of more than 130 pilot whales.

There was a similar problem last year when dozens of long-finned pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins died after also beaching in Tasmania.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/w ... 389712.stm

Published: 2005/10/30 05:49:24 GMT

© BBC MMV

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

41 Stranded Whales Shot in New Zealand

The Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Wildlife officers shot 41 pilot whales that beached on New Zealand's South Island, the Department of Conservation said.

A total of 49 whales came ashore Saturday near Farewell Spit in the second major stranding in the area within two weeks. Eight died on the beaches, and the remaining animals were shot when heavy seas prevented any attempt to refloat them.

"Given the hopelessness of being able to successfully refloat the whales, our prime concern was then to avoid the whales' suffering a long and painful death," Greg Napp, the department's Golden Bay area officer, said in a statement.
Click Here!

Napp said the latest stranding was likely unconnected to another last month when 129 pilot whales came ashore close by.

Conservation officers and volunteers managed to refloat more than 100 in that stranding, but 21 whales died.

Mike Rogers, a Department of Conservation worker, said the whales that beached Saturday were not thought to be from the pod involved in the larger stranding on Dec. 20.

"There have always been strandings at Golden Bay," he said, noting that the tide goes out as much as four miles and the animals "get trapped on this gentle sloping beach."

---------
January 1, 2006 11:26 PM

www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/247-010 ... 91823.html

 

[Kondoru]

How about it just being an accident?

We know that monkeys fall from trees.

Whales generaly (with an exception of a few species) live in the deep ocean. If they find a food souce closer inshore they are going to start blundering around, possibly fatally.

Think of the problems a person used to driving in a wide open space would face if they suddenly had to negotiate a forklift round a crowded warehouse??

How do river dolphins fare?

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Posted on Sat, Apr. 15, 2006

Mass whale deaths tied to U.S. Navy sonar, report says


The Yomiuri Shimbun

TOKYO - The U.S. Navy's deployment of active sonar to detect submarine activity is believed to have been responsible for at least six incidents of mass death and unusual behavior among pods of whales in the last 10 years, according to a recent U.S. Congressional Research Service report.

In one of the most serious incidents, 150 to 200 melon-headed whales were observed milling in Hanalei Bay off Hawaii's Kauai Island during a Rim of the Pacific Exercise on July 3, 2004, after midfrequency sonar was used, the CRS report said.

Known as RIMPAC, the naval exercise included the participation of Japan and other U.S. allies in Asia and the Pacific.

The CRS report also listed five other incidents in which smaller whales, such as goose-beaked whales, harbor porpoises and killer whales, were found beached and dead in groups of a few to nearly 20. Many of the dead mammals had damaged hearing organs, and all five incidents coincided with U.S. naval exercises in the areas, the report said.

The potential impact of active military sonar on marine mammals, whose hearing is critical for their survival, has long been a concern. Even the deployment of low-frequency active sonar is said to cause a roaring sound comparable to that of a twin-engine jet fighter, while the midfrequency sound is believed to equal that of a rocket. Experts have warned that the sound could critically damage the mammals' hearing organs.

The CRS report comes amid a growing number of reports of whales colliding with ships. In the latest incident, more than 100 people were injured last Sunday when a hydrofoil collided with an object, possibly a whale, off Japan's Cape Sata.

Although the U.S. Navy has limited the deployment of active sonar in most oceans out of environmental concern since 2003, its use has increased in the seas surrounding Japan as U.S. forces are intensifying surveillance of China's military activities.

"It's highly probable that even Sunday's collision was caused by a whale deafened by active sonar noise," said Tadasu Yamada, a sea mammal expert at Japan's National Science Museum.

But Akira Takemura, a professor at Nagasaki University, was skeptical of the theory. "A whale, even if its hearing is damaged, can still detect and avoid an approaching ship by deploying other senses, such as feeling the water pressure on its skin," he said.

------------
© 2006 KRT Wire and wire service sources

www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/14351692.htm

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

400 dead dolphins found

29/04/2006 08:49 - (SA)


Zanzibar - Hundreds of dead dolphins washed up along the shore of a popular tourist destination on Zanzibar's northern coast, and scientists ruled out poisoning.

It was not immediately clear what killed the 400 dolphins, whose carcasses on Friday were strewn along a 4km stretch of Nungwi, said Narriman Jidawi, a marine biologist at the Institute of Marine Science in Zanzibar.

But the bottleneck dolphins, who live in deep offshore waters, had empty stomachs, meaning that they could have been disoriented and were swimming for some time to reorient themselves. They did not starve to death and were not poisoned, Jidawi said.

In the United States, experts were investigating the possibility that sonar from US submarines could have been responsible for a similar incident in Marathon, Florida, where 68 deep-water dolphins stranded themselves in March 2005.

A US Navy task force patrols the East Africa coast as part of counter-terrorism operations. A Navy official was not immediately available for comment, but the service rarely comments on the location of submarines at sea.

The deaths are a blow to the tourism industry in Zanzibar, where thousands of visitors go to watch and swim with wild dolphins, said Abdulsamad Melhi, owner of Sunset Bungalows, perched atop a small cliff overlooking the beach.

Villagers, fishermen and hotel residents found the carcasses and alerted officials. Mussa Aboud Jumbe, Zanzibar's director of fisheries, went on state radio to warn the public against eating the dolphins' meat, saying the cause of death had not been determined.

But residents who did eat the dolphins' meat early on Friday were all doing fine, Jidawi said.

The Indo-Pacific bottlenose, humpback and spinner porpoises, commonly known as dolphins, are the most common species in Zanzibar's coastal waters, with bottlenose and humpback dolphins often found in mixed-species groups.

www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2- ... 37,00.html

 

[Anonymous]

My gut feeling is that whale and dolphin mind maps are based on their sonar abilities. Memory for places/location among humans is vital. It is, indeed, a significantly important sense to them - perhaps comparable (if not more so) to sight. Thus, it may be that hi tech sonar and sonic experiments not only 'muck' up their ability to orientate, it may damage the brain areas as well. Think how well a person would survive, or a group would survive, (nomadic, say) if sight were removed?

 

[ramonmercado]

U.S. Navy Sonar Linked To Whale Strandings, Environmental Scientists Argue
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 112057.htm

ScienceDaily (Oct. 6, 2008) — Earlier this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a series of lower court rulings that restrict the Navy's use of sonar in submarine detection training exercises off the coast of Southern California. The court is due to hear the case after its term begins again this month.

For many years, professor Chris Parsons has been tracking the patterns of mass whale strandings around the world. In his most recent paper, "Navy Sonar and Cetaceans: Just how much does the gun need to smoke before we act?" Parsons and his co-authors bring together all of the major whale and dolphin strandings in the past eight years and discuss the different kinds of species that have been affected worldwide. They also strongly argue for stricter environmental policies related to this issue.

"Generally, if there is a large whale stranding, there is a military exercise in the area," says Parsons. "Sonar is killing more whales than we know about."

Parsons is a national delegate for the International Whaling Commission’s scientific and conservation committees, and on the board of directors of the marine section of the Society for Conservation Biology. He has been involved in whale and dolphin research for more than a decade and has conducted projects in South Africa, India, China and the Caribbean as well as the United Kingdom.

Though Parsons believes that there is a good chance the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in favor of the Navy, he thinks there is a chance for a win-win situation on both sides.

"If the Navy uses proper mitigation efforts, it can still perform its exercises and affect less of the whale population," he says. However, he argues they need to avoid sensitive areas completely, and have trained, experienced whale experts as lookouts when performing these exercises—"not just someone who has watched a 45-minute DVD, which is sadly the only training most naval lookouts get with respect to finding and detecting whales."

Even with all these efforts, however, Parsons worries that sonar is affecting many more whales than we even know about. "Eventually the Navy may have to reconsider the use of certain types of sonar all together. They could be wiping out entire populations of whales, and seriously depleting others."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Journal reference:

Chris Parsons et al. Navy Sonar and Cetaceans: Just how much does the gun need to smoke before we act? Marine Pollution Bulletin, (in press)

Adapted from materials provided by George Mason University.

 

[ramonmercado]

Image & comments at link.

Mass Whale Strandings in Tasmania The cause of the sudden beachings remains a mystery
www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008 ... s-tasmania
By Laurie J. Schmidt Posted 12.05.2008 at 10:38 am 3 Comments

Stranded Whale Rescue, New Zealand: Chagai
For the second time in only two weeks, a large group of long-finned pilot whales has died after stranding themselves in a rocky area known as Sandy Cape on the remote western coast of Tasmania, Australia. On November 29, more than 150 whales died, turning the waters of the Indian Ocean red when they suffered deep cuts after being battered by rough surf and thrashing against jagged rocks.

Due to the area's remote location, rescuers were unable to reach the scene until a day after the stranding was reported. Still, they managed to save 32 whales with the help of a local fisherman who used his boat to herd the whales back out to sea. The dead whales were left to decompose naturally.

Just one week earlier, more than 50 whales died after becoming stranded on another nearby beach. Because Tasmania is along the whale migration route to and from Antarctic waters, strandings there are not uncommon. According to Tasmania's Department of Primary Industries and Water, 75 whale stranding incidents have occurred since 1900, several of which involved more than 200 animals.

Pilot whales are among the most social marine mammals, often traveling in pods that include hundreds of individuals. Although these strong social bonds help the whales survive, their herding behavior can also lead to their demise -- as one whale emits a distress call that prompts the other members of the pod to follow. Some scientists believe that the whales become stranded when they are forced to chase prey too close to shore. Predators like killer whales can also cause "panic" within a whale pod, disorienting them and "herding" them towards the shoreline. Other researchers have suggested that the whales' echolocation system may not detect gently sloping coastlines. More controversial theories attribute whale beaching to military sonar and changes in the Earth's magnetic field, which could interfere with the animals' ability to navigate. But none of these theories have yet been proven, and the reason behind mass whale strandings is still a mystery.

 

[ramonmercado]

Villagers find bone to pick over whale remains
Whale link
By Eoin English

A row has flared between two west Cork villages over the remains of the giant Courtmacsherry whale.

The 20-metre 50-tonne adult female fin whale became stranded on a sandbank in Courtmacsherry Harbour last Thursday morning.

Despite heroic efforts by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) and dozens of locals, the animal later died.

Now a row has flared after a group of people from Courtmacsherry tried to remove the creature’s jaw bones on Saturday.

They want to put the massive bones on display in the village in memory of the creature.

But villagers from nearby Kilbrittain blocked the operation, staking a claim on the remains.

The stand-off continued last night as efforts to broker a deal between both sides got under way.

Meanwhile, the largest postmortem examination conducted on an animal in Ireland continued through the weekend.

Working in horrendous weather conditions, a team of 15 people from the IWDG and UCC using 10-inch butcher knives and specially sharpened slash hooks, removed the whale’s internal organs, including its liver, intestines, lungs, and its one-tonne heart.

But they have been unable to establish its cause of death. Several tissue samples have been taken away for laboratory analysis.

The entire operation was overseen by the IWDG and Cork County Council vet Dan Crowley.

It was filmed by a crew from the National Geographic television channel, led by whale expert Joy Reidenberg, who jetted in from America on Saturday.

Gases had built up inside the whale’s carcass over the weekend bloating its remains to almost twice its original size.

But by midnight yesterday, the whale had been reduced to a bloody-carcass as the row over who gets its jaw bones continued to gather pace.

 

[ramonmercado]

Whale pod stuck on sandbar dying
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7846429.stm

The large size of these sperm whales poses added problems when they beach


Enlarge Image

More than 40 sperm whales have died after a pod of about 50 became stranded off southern Australia, wildlife officials have said.

Rescuers have been trying to pour water over the survivors to keep them alive.

The pod is trapped on a sandbar 150m (500 feet) offshore from Perkins Island on the northwest coast of the island state of Tasmania.

Rescue is proving difficult because of the whales' immense size, and because the area is only accessible by sea.

A spokeswoman for Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Services, Liz Wren, told reporters that rescuers thought seven or eight whales may still be alive, although other reports suggest just two may have survived.

"The males are as big as 18m, females 12m, weighing in between 20 and 50 tonnes," she said.

She said while rescuers had been able to save some long-finned pilot whales after another mass stranding on a Tasmanian beach in November "sperm whales are an entirely different kettle of fish and much more difficult".

"And it's much harder on them when they strand because the great weight of their bodies puts more pressure on their internal organs," she said.

Moving the carcasses of the dead whales could also pose problems because they are stuck on the edge of a major navigation channel for a fishing port.

A team of six wildlife rangers reached the survivors by dinghy early Friday and were attempting to keep their skin wet, until the next high tide.

Why beach?

In November more than 150 long-finned pilot whales died, with many sustaining deep cuts after thrashing against rocks, after beaching themselves on the remote west coast of Tasmania state.

Australia's southern island of Tasmania experiences about 80% of whale beachings in the country.

The reasons for the latest beaching were unclear, but Ms Wren said rough sea conditions and the narrow channel that the pod had been navigating between the island and the mainland could be part of the explanation.

Mass strandings of whales occur periodically in Australia and New Zealand, as the whales migrate to and from Antarctic waters, for reasons that are not entirely understood.

Theories include disturbance of echo-location, possibly by interference from sound produced by human activities at sea.

 

[ramonmercado]

Last whale stranded in Australia dies
http://www.physorg.com/print152103830.html

In this image provided by Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, a pod of sperm whales are seen stranded on a sand bar off Perkins Island, Australia's Tasmania state Friday, Jan 23, 2009. A team of wildlife rangers reached the survivors by dinghy and are attempting to keep their skin wet, until the next high tide, after the stranding that left at least 38 of 50 whales dead. (AP Photo/Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, HO)


(AP) -- The last survivor among a group of 45 sperm whales that became stranded on a remote Australian sandbar died Sunday, ending a long and disappointing rescue effort.

The whales became stuck on a sandbar just off the island state of Tasmania's northwest coast on Thursday. Officials who rushed to the site to help survivors found only seven alive, and began pouring water over the semi-submerged mammals to keep them cool as they tried to devise a plan to free them.

But survivor numbers dwindled each day. The last one, which had hung on for more than three days but was hemmed in behind the bodies of others in the pod, died Sunday afternoon.

"We were aiming for a rescue but the longer the rescue took the more remote (the chances of a rescue) became, and the whale died," said Warwick Brennan, a spokesman for the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries.

Earlier Sunday, rescuers gave up hope of saving the last survivor.

"We are administering palliative care," said Chris Arthur, a spokesman for Tasmania's Parks and Wildlife Service.

The animals - the largest up to 60 feet (18 meters) long and weighing up to 22 U.S. tons (20 tons) each - were too heavy to lift free of the sandbar, Arthur said.

Ironically, the thick blubber that insulates the animals when they swim in deep Antarctic waters has posed one of the greatest dangers.

"The blubber, which is a real asset to them in the deep cold waters, just really makes them heat up quickly," Brennan told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio earlier Sunday.

Strandings happen periodically in Tasmania, where whales pass during their migration to and from Antarctic waters.

Scientists do not know why the creatures get stranded, but they suspect in this case that rough conditions in the narrow channel between the island and the mainland had churned up sediment in the water and confused the pod's sonar navigation.

Last November, 150 long-finned pilot whales died after beaching on a rocky coastline in Tasmania despite frantic efforts to save them. A week earlier, rescuers saved 11 pilot whales among a pod of 60 that had beached on the island state.

Sperm whales become stranded less often than other species because they spend most of their time in deep waters, away from the coastline. But scientists say ocean currents and feed stocks have brought them closer to shore.

Officials have said the carcasses would be left in place to rot or be eaten by scavengers.

 

[ramonmercado]

Mass whale stranding in Tasmania
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7918144.stm

Rescuers attempt to save the stranded whales

Australian authorities are racing to save dozens of pilot whales and a small pod of dolphins beached on an island.

The mammals have stranded themselves on King Island, in the Bass Strait between the mainland and the southern state of Tasmania.

Reports say about 140 out of nearly 200 whales have already died.

More than 400 whales have died in Tasmanian waters in recent months, in a phenomenon for which scientists still have no definitive explanation.

The 194 pilot whales and half a dozen bottlenose dolphins became stranded on Naracoopa Beach on King Island on Sunday evening.

Chris Arthur, of Tasmania's Parks and Wildlife Service, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that 54 whales and seven dolphins were still alive.

"It's amazing, some will some die straight away, some will survive for days," he said.

"These are fairly robust animals, pilot whales, we experienced that in the past. While they're alive there is a chance," he said.

Local residents joined rescuers in trying to keep the animals wet and finding ways to move them out to open water. More than 100 King Island residents have volunteered to help the efforts.

More than 150 pilot whales died after beaching themselves on Tasmania's remote west coast in November and 48 sperm whales died in January on a sandbar off Perkins Island.

Mass strandings of whales occur periodically in Australia and New Zealand, as the whales migrate to and from Antarctic waters, for reasons that are not entirely understood.

Theories include disturbance of echo-location, possibly by interference from sound produced by human activities at sea.

 

[ramonmercado]

'Stranded' rare whale found dead
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scot ... 186885.stm

The whale is thought to be one of those injected with drugs by vets


A second, rare, northern bottlenosed whale has been found dead in the Cromarty Firth, the coastguard said.

The animal is thought to be one of two whales that became stranded in the firth, on Sunday night.

Vets administered injections to humanely kill both whales, but one swam away on the high tide.

Marine Conservationists said they expected both animals would die due to their injuries and the amount of time they spent out of the water.

A third whale appeared to have successfully made its way back to sea.

The species is the same as one which made its way up the Thames into the centre of London in 2006.

 

[rynner2]

Whale found dead in Thames
A humpback whale has been found dead in the River Thames near London.
Published: 4:04PM BST 14 Sep 2009

The 9.5m-long (28ft) juvenile male whale was first spotted in the River Thames on Thursday, but was not seen again until it was found dead on Saturday morning near Dartford Bridge.

Initial examination suggests the humpback, the first to have been found in the Thames, may have died of starvation.

Scientists from The Zoological Society of London (ZSL), which manages the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, said on Monday the beaching of the humpback whale was an ''incredibly unusual event''.

The last humpback to be found stranded in Britain was at Port Talbot in Wales in 2007.

The ZSL team, who were also involved in attempts to rescue the whale which swam up the Thames in 2006 and the mass dolphin stranding in Cornwall last year, carried out a post-mortem examination in-situ after the whale was recovered by the Port of London Authority.

The programme's manager, Rob Deaville, said: ''Preliminary results from the post-mortem examination indicate that it may have died as a result of starvation, but further tests are still pending and may provide additional information about what happened to this whale.

''There have only been 12 strandings of humpback whales in the last 20 years and this is an incredibly unusual event.''

And he said: ''Although it's obviously a sad outcome in this instance, the post-mortem examination has given us a rare opportunity to examine a truly extraordinary animal at close quarters.

''Information gathered through examinations like these will hopefully help further our understanding of such animals and also help contribute to improving their conservation status.''

The researchers said examinations of stranded whales and dolphins can provide insight into causes of death, diseases, environmental contamination, diet and health of the mammals, which in turn can help detect outbreaks of disease, unusual deaths and environmental changes.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthn ... hames.html

 

[ramonmercado]

Plausible theory for beaching of whales
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sci ... 33488.html
WILLIAM REVILLE

Thu, Mar 11, 2010

WE HAVE ALL seen the pictures on television – a massive beached whale lying helpless on the sand, its big soulful eyes staring helplessly while rescue workers frantically try to help.

Sometimes a whole group (pod) of whales beach themselves – on May 31st last year, 55 false killer whales beached themselves near Cape Town (the record number for a false killer whale beaching is 835 animals). Scientists still neither fully understand why they happen nor if we should be particularly worried about them.

Coastal rescue groups find stranded whales and dolphins and try to rehabilitate them but beached whales often die despite all efforts to help them. Just being out of the water can be enough to terminally injure the whale. Beached whales can die simply from the crushing weight of their own bodies which is normally supported by buoyant water. This unsupported weight can damage muscles causing the release of myoglobin, a protein that is normally used to store and transport oxygen. However, when released in this way it is toxic to the kidneys. Whale blubber, normally needed for insulation in cold water, can also severely overheat a beached animal.

Scientists are able to explain whale-beachings only in about 50 per cent of cases. For example, some beachings are obviously the result of the whale having been injured by a collision with a ship. Pneumonia commonly causes beachings in the north-eastern United States. Algal blooms leading to poisonous “red tides” affect whales and other marine mammals.

Other proposals to explain mass-strandings include military sonar, noise from commercial shipping, anomalies in the earth’s magnetic field, the pod blindly following a sick and disoriented leader, difficulty in navigating shallow waters, and more. Military sonar has been implicated in mass-strandings of beaked whales, but not in other species of whales.

The Deafwhale Society (deafwhale.com), a marine mammal conservation group, has proposed a detailed hypothesis to explain mass-strandings that appeals to me, although I am unsure as to the scientific rigour of the hypothesis. The society proposes that most mass strandings are the result of severe injury caused to whales by seismic shock from undersea earthquakes (seaquakes). The Society says that the whale species known to constantly mass-strand themselves all feed on the squid that breed and lay eggs in the bottom water of mid-oceanic ridge systems. Some 90 per cent of all earthquakes occur near those submerged mountain ranges.

Many of these seaquakes release enormous energy to the water above and there are reports of severe damage to ships caught sailing within range of a large event. The whales dive to great depths to feed on squid. They navigate and locate their prey in the darkness using a sophisticated echo-location system. Evolution has equipped this navigat- ional system to withstand seismic shock, but this can be swamped by severe seaquakes.

The injured whales return to the surface and can remain there for a number of weeks recovering. If they recover successfully they return to their diving and feeding. But if they don’t recover they blindly swim with the currents and can cover large distances before eventually beaching on a protruding beach that intercepts the currents. The Deafwhale Society has traced surface currents upstream from mass-strandings and found that, on average, the nearest feeding grounds of the stranded species was about 2,500 miles upstream and right over a mid-ocean ridge.

Many beached whales are badly infected with parasitic worms. Whales naturally carry parasitic worms in their head sinuses, an essential part of the navigational system of whales. The worms eat debris and keep the sinuses clean and ready for diving. But if the membrane lining the sinus gets damaged, as it could by seismic shock, the worms can eat their way into places they shouldn’t be, multiply there and cause major problems.

Beach strandings of whales and dolphins have been reported as far back as Aristottle’s time and in the same locations they occur today. Reports of mass-strandings are increasing, but this does not necessarily mean it is increasing. The reports follow human population movements. As beach areas get more popular and access is developed to beaches previously unfrequented, and as people become more interested in whales and dolphins, reports of beached mammals will increase naturally.

William Reville is associate professor of biochemistry and public awareness of science officer at UCC

 

[ramonmercado]

Whales found dead on Donegal beach
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11705622
By Nuala McCann BBC News

The dead whales were found at 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 Inner 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 Inner 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."

Dr Berrow said the British 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.

No-one from the Royal Navy was available to comment on Sunday.

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.

 

[rynner2]

Young sperm whale washed up on Kent coast had 'starved to death'
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:11 AM on 5th March 2011

A whale found dead off the south coast starved to death, initial findings have revealed.
The 45ft long sperm whale was found stranded on a beach in Pegwell Bay, off the Kent coast, yesterday.
The juvenile male had not eaten for some time and had become dehydrated, a preliminary post-mortem examination found.

Scientists from the Zoological Society of London carried out the investigation as part of the Defra funded collaborative UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP).

Rob Deaville, project manager of the CSIP, said: 'Preliminary results from the post-mortem examination indicate that the whale had not fed for a long time, suggesting it had become dehydrated, which most likely played a role in its live stranding.
'Further tests will now be carried out to determine the full picture'.

The mammal was spotted yesterday morning and although rescuers were called it later died.
Whale beachings are rarely explained. Scientists attribute them to natural and environmental factors such as rough weather, weakness due to old age, hunting too close to shore and navigation errors.

A Thanet District Council spokeswoman said it was seeking advice from the Institute of Zoology to determine how best to move it but they were currently being hampered by the high tide.

A Kent Police spokeswoman said an officer was on the scene and authorities were also liaising with experts at London's Natural History Museum, who may be called in to take samples of the sperm whale's jawbone.
Like dolphins, sperm whales can carry tuberculosis and lung disease and so the public would be well advised to stay away from the corpse.
Incidences of whales of this size washing up on the Kent coast are rare, a Kent Coastguard spokesman confirmed.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1FixdP5OK

I worked one season as a sailing instructor out of Ramsgate, but I never saw any whales in the area.