NEWS: At Least 22 Pilot Whales Beach in N.C.

In Manteo, North Carolina, 22 whales beached themselves on Saturday. The whales were on the northern Outer Banks, near Oregon Inlet on a five mile stretch of land. Most of the beached whales - at least 17 of them thus far - have died. The NOAA is having difficulty counting the beached whales due to fluctuating sea conditions. Scientists say they don't know why they beached themselves.



With all the beachings lately, I wonder what the cause is. Could it be seismic testing, sonar used by submarines? How about the big earthquakes recently? Scientists still say they don't know why the dolphins and whales are beaching themselves. Some have suggested that the seismic testing they use, to search for oil is causing it. Others just say it happens all the time. To me it seems that it happens more around quakes and sonar or electromagnetics (EM),(ELF)?

Before this NC beaching there were several other beachings in the last month or so. Here's some of them,
twenty adult female sperm whales washed up on a remote Australian beach, the third such mass stranding in the same area in a month. Tue Dec 27, huge earthquake recorded between Tasmania and Antarctica last week. In two separate beachings in Tasmania, 115 long-finned pilot whales died. Nov 29, A pod of 17 whales and 50 pilot whales were also reported stranded on Maria Island.

Could the tilt of the earth being thrown off by the Dec 26th Earthquake affect the whales? One report shows the whales are getting the bends, from swimming up to fast after a blast underwater. I have posted about this in my Tsunami thread.


Related News Links:
www.cnn.com
news.yahoo.com
www.news24.com


[edit on 17-1-2005 by Banshee]

Whales have been known to beach themselves in large numbers before any sonar or other suspect technologies. There's no reason to jump to the conclusion that this is not a natural occurrence.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
Whales have been known to beach themselves in large numbers before any sonar or other suspect technologies. There's no reason to jump to the conclusion that this is not a natural occurrence.

Can you post links that back up what you say?

We need links to then make an educated decision, thanks.

This is from Wikipedia:

Mass whale beachings do occur naturally amongst many species and in fact the frequency and size of beachings around the world, recorded over the last 1000 years in religious tracts and more recently in scientific surveys, has been used to estimate the changing population size of various whale species by assuming that the proportion of the total whale population beaching in any one year is constant. Despite the concerns raised about sonar which may invalidate this assumption, this population estimate technique is still popular today.

I have posted in my Tsunami thread, a article about how sonar is connected with these Whale beachings.

the.honoluluadvertiser.com...
-The new research from the Canary Islands suggests two possible ways in which the whales could be harmed by the gas bubbles. One is similar to how humans get the bends: that the whales panic at the sound of the loud sonar noises and rise too quickly from deep water. As they rise, nitrogen bubbles can be formed from the rapid change in pressure and cause the bends.

The other hypothesis involves bubble formation caused directly by the sonar on gas nuclei, or bubble "precursors," in whale tissues already highly saturated with nitrogen.

-We know there is a connection between military sonar and strandings, and now we're making progress on the physical mechanism causing them, said Joel Reynolds, an attorney with the National Resources Defense Council, which sued the government over the low-frequency sonar. This is very compelling scientific evidence.

I thought the bends was created by expanding gas used by scuba divers? whales don't need scuba equpiment and get all thier air at sea level, not at multiple atmospheres of water pressure.

Could eaisly be casued by stress or maybe even shark attacks

Originally posted by Jehosephat
I thought the bends was created by expanding gas used by scuba divers? whales don't need scuba equpiment and get all thier air at sea level, not at multiple atmospheres of water pressure.

Could easily be casued by stress or maybe even shark attacks

Jehosephat, in the article on my last post it says:

High-powered sonar from Navy ships appears to be giving whales and other marine mammals a version of the bends, causing them to develop dangerous gas bubbles in some vital organs and blood vessels, to beach themselves and die, according to a study published today in the journal Nature.

Reporting on beaked whales that were stranded in the Canary Islands soon after an international naval exercise last year, researchers for the first time found a condition similar to decompression sickness in 10 of 14 dead animals.

The new data begins to explain how and why high decibel mid-frequency sonar used by the U.S. Navy and other military fleets appears to cause some deep-diving marine mammals to die. Although the bends was previously unheard of in whales, dolphins and porpoises, the British and Spanish researchers concluded that nitrogen bubbles in the whales' tissue was "the most likely cause" of the Canary Island strandings.

The newer research says its military sonar causing dangerous nitrogen gas bubbles in whale tissue and organs and it is similar to the human bends.

Do you have any evidence that these whales were exposed to any man-made sonar?

Originally posted by djohnsto77
Do you have any evidence that these whales were exposed to any man-made sonar?

I personally don't have evidence. The scientists doing research on the whale beachings say it's connected to sonar from the military and from corperrate oil companies doing seismic testing.

news.nationalgeographic.com...

Military Sonar May Give Whales the Bends, Study Says

John Roach
for National Geographic News

October 8, 2003
Undersea noise from naval exercises appears to give beaked whales the bends, an ailment most commonly associated with scuba divers who rise to the ocean surface too quickly, according to a new study.

The finding comes from autopsies performed on beaked whales that stranded themselves on beaches in the Canary Islands four hours after military sonar activities commenced there September 24, 2002. The research is reported in the October 9 issue of Nature.

Here's a report from 2000

www.earthwatch.org...
Whale Strandings Point to Navy Sonar Testing
Data collected by Earthwatch-supported scientist Ken Balcomb may yield concrete evidence linking sonar testing to the stranding of 16 cetaceans in the Bahamas.

The Bahamas Thanks to quick action by researchers Ken Balcomb and Diane Claridge and their Earthwatch team, they recorded the strandings of 16 cetaceans, and were able to gather what may prove to be vital data in one of the largest controversies now being debated. The controversy involves testing by the United States Navy of a new very-low-frequency, very loud sonar that they hope will allow them to detect a new generation of extremely quiet submarines. Low frequency active sonar (LFAS) travels far underwater, but to do so, it requires pulses of sound exponentially louder (235 decibels) than marine mammals normally hear. Therein lies the controversy. Environmentalists and many scientists are concerned that such loud sounds could damage or disorient whales and dolphins. The navy, which so far has spent $350 million on the system, contends that it has tested the process for just this concern, and found no effect.

Balcomb’s data may help resolve the question. The navy conducted tests of the controversial sonar in the Bahamas on March 15th, and that day and the next, Balcomb and his crew found or learned of 16 cetaceans of four different species that had beached themselves on three different islands. Rescuers were able to save all but seven of the animals, and, from six that died, Balcomb and Claridge were able to collect fresh tissue samples, including their sensitive earbones, which can help determine the cause of the beachings.

www.cnn.com...
Low-frequency sonar raises whale advocates' hackles

www.underwatertimes.com...
Whale News Archive - several stories on beached whales

www.ldeo.columbia.edu...
Case Studies in Earth & Environmental Science Journalism

www.nrdc.org...
Protecting Whales from Dangerous Sonar
-The use of the biggest gun in the U.S. Navy's active-sonar arsenal, a low-frequency system known as SURTASS LFA, was restricted in a 2003 agreement with an NRDC-led coalition of wildlife advocates. But the fight is hardly over; the Bush administration is now appealing the legal victory that compelled the Navy into compromise. Meanwhile, other nations are developing LFA-type systems of their own. And sonar testing in coastal waters -- using the same mid-frequency systems that have been implicated in numerous strandings of whales -- is actually on the rise, putting more and more marine mammals and fisheries at risk.

Here's an update:

At Least 34 Whales Dead

Scientists and National Park Service workers were working Sunday to collect samples and clean up whale carcasses after 34 of the marine mammals beached themselves and either died or had to be euthanized.

Dozens of whales beached themselves early Saturday along a five-mile stretch of coastline near Oregon Inlet, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. Twenty-four pilot whales died, and another seven were euthanized because they were suffering, the National Park Service reported.

A single minke whale was found dead in Corolla, the Virginian-Pilot reported. Two pygmy sperm whales turned up Sunday morning near Buxton one already dead, and one so sick that it also had to be euthanized, NOAA Fisheries biologist Barbie Byrd said.

"We're hoping that this is all of them," she said.

Very interesting.

This year whale and dolphin beachings have occured numerously, with many explanations given.

One was:

Research shows cyclical westerly and southerly winds pushed sub-Antarctic waters north, drawing colder, nutrient-rich waters needed by whales and dolphins closer to the surface.

www.abc.net.au...

Something similar could be an explanation for the strandings of the 34 pilot whales.

Another possibilty is that these whales were effected by "sound bombing", a technique used by companies to locate underwater sources of oil and gas.

235 db? thats disgusting. and people hate rap music. im going to vomit now, this thread has made me lose faith in mankind. how could you mass murder whales looking for submarines? im not saying all the whales died becasue of this -there is the distinct possiblility that the recent earthquake could have been the casue behind these mass beachings- im saying with a sonar blast like that, no doubt it is killing whales and more...

The whales and dolphins are not the only sea creatures being killed. Giant squid are also washing up. These squids live in the deep ocean in cold water. According to scientists, they usually only see one dead squid a year on the coast of Spain, but there have been more deaths in recent years.

www.newscientist.com...

One of the oceans’ most mysterious animals, the giant squid, may be being killed by human noises. Unusually high numbers of dead giant squid, washed up on Spanish shores, have led scientists to believe that loud, low-frequency sounds made by oil companies charting the sea bed are killing the creatures.

Fear of damage to marine mammals has resulted in restrictions on low-frequency marine noise in the US, and awareness of the issue in Europe is growing. NATO exercises with high-intensity sonar in 2002 were charged with harming beaked whales in the Canary Islands. Norway rejected demands by environmentalists to limit seismic surveys off the Lofoten Islands in 2003.

Now the giant squid has joined the list of potential victims. The animals grow up to 20 metres in length and are found in deep, cold waters worldwide. Little more is known about them as efforts to observe them in their native habitat have failed, and scientists recorded only dead, stranded specimens.

Normally, only one giant squid per year is found along the coast of Spain, says Angel Guerra of the Institute for Marine Investigations in Vigo, Spain.


[edit on 18-1-2005 by Ycon]

When I posted this news article about the whale beachings, I had in mind that these beachings were caused by mans electromagnetic weapons. These electromagnetic waves are being used to manipulate weather, cause earthquakes and volcanos to erupt and many other things. I had noticed that these beachings were happening before earthquakes hit. Quakes were coming 3 days or so after and I was betting that a quake would come on the fault line in the atlantic ocean. Today is the third day since the whales beached themselves in North Carolina and today there was 2 quakes on the northern side of the fault.

18-JAN-2005 06:59:03 57.09 -33.73 5.6 10.0 NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN
18-JAN-2005 05:50:38 57.01 -33.93 4.9 10.0 NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN

Could one of the Governments be trying to cause a tsunami on the east coast of the US?

Look what was in the area around the time the whales beached themselves. Hmmmm electromagnetic waves?

www.kittyhawkfreepress.com...
www.kittyhawkfreepress.com...
U.S.S. Teddy Roosevelt, has been doing military maneuvers in this area for several days. The battle group is usually composed of an Aircraft Carrier, Destroyer Guided-missile cruisers USS Anzio (CG 68) and USS Cape St. George (CG 71), guided guided-missile destroyers USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51), USS Porter (DDG 78) and USS Winston Churchill (DDG 81); destroyer USS Stump (DD 978); guided-missile frigate USS Carr (FFG 52); fast combat support ship USNS Arctic (T-AOE 8); and two attack submarines. It is not known for sure at this time if the military ships in the area had an affect on the whales that would have driven them to shore.


[edit on 18-1-2005 by Ycon]