200 dolphins flounder in mystery beaching

200 dolphins flounder in mystery beaching

www.news.com.au

MORE than 200 dolphins have beached themselves on Manila Bay in the Philippines.

"This is an unusual phenomenon," Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources director Malcolm Sarmiento told local radio, estimating the number of dolphins at "more than 200".

He said smaller pods of dolphins numbering "in the tens and twenties" had beached themselves elsewhere in the Philippines previously, but this was the first time so many had done so at the same time and place.

(visit the link for the full news article)



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I wonder what would have caused such a large number to do this. What's the largest number to have ever to have beach themselves? Anyone have that statistic handy?

Anyway, it's sad, I love dolphins.

The article said it might have been a 'heat wave or disturbance at sea' like an underwater earthquake or something of the sort. Such a shame.

Any other idea on what causes mass beachings?

www.news.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 9/2/09 by Evasius]

Maybe an underwater ufo send off some waves that drove the dolphins to beach themselves. I'm not joking about this. Dolphins are sensitive to sounds so maybe a certain sound drove them to it?

An underwater earthquake or possibly some sort of underwater eruption causing the release of certain gases from the earth would be my guess. It's possible that the cause of death won't be apparent. Sometimes this just happens. 200 dolphins is a lot. Marine mammals beach all the time, and scientists don't really know why for sure.

reply to post by Schleprock


Well anything's possible I guess. There's really no telling what's underwater in that region.

I was in Vanuatu in 2004 and took a holiday snap, and wouldn't you know it, there was a UFO in the upper left corner.

Vanuatu UFO - August 2004

Since then, when I visit any tropical destination in the Asia/Pacific region, I keep my eyes open.

reply to post by Evasius


Military Sonar is commonly responsible for the beaching of marine animals.
Perhaps there was some testing going on.
Sad indeed.

www.cbsnews.com...

Notch and Naia are two very lucky dolphins, reports Beatriz Canals of WFOR-TV in Miami. They're lucky to be alive.

They and 70 other rough-toothed dolphins ended up stranded in Florida's Marathon Key early last month.

Notch and Naia beat the odds.

"Eighteen (we) were able to get out to deep water right away," says Lurie King of the Marine Animal Rescue Society. "Twenty, unfortunately, died during the stranding. The remaining 32 were brought to three different rehabilitation sites. Notch and Naia, because they were hanging out together, were brought here."

Due to sonars, probably. That would be my final guess.

I grew up a surfer girl, and we never heard of mass stranding back in the 70's and 80's. This is something that people need to realize is not common but is becoming so. There is a big difference. I am heartfully sorry to hear this, something is really wrong.

This happened last year in Florida and no official cause was ever released. Usually when pinnipeds beach themselves they are dying from parasitic infections or other diseases but 200 is an awful lot of dolphins beaching themselves. There seems to be an awful lot of "diseases" affecting bats and birds as well, along the west coast and New York.

Hate to speculate but I really wonder if the earth'a apparent weakening magnetic field is part of it, if it can affect electronic devices it definitely could harm their echolocation abilities.

I found an article from the San Francisco Chronicle on August 13, 2008 about use of sonar in the region, (but I'm having trouble getting the link to work in the post). Here's a bit of text from it however:

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a dispute over President Bush's attempt to exempt the Navy from environmental laws restricting its use of mid-frequency sonar in training exercises off Southern California. Mid-frequency sonar travels shorter distances, but environmental groups say it is more harmful to sea creatures than low-frequency pulses.

Under Tuesday's settlement, the Navy can use low-frequency sonar only in certain areas near the Philippines and Japan, with seasonal restrictions, and in another region 50 miles north and south of Hawaii, far removed from two Hawaiian sanctuaries for marine life.

Tueday's settlement allows the Navy to use sonar in a restricted area when necessary to track submarines during actual operations. That exception does not apply during training.

So if this is what happened, then this proves that there were actual operations going on in the area (rather than just a navy training exercise).

[edit on 9/2/09 by Evasius]

I've heard of similar stories recently and don't recall what or if the results were from any autopsies. I doubt they eat the plastic garbage that's down there. I guess we'll hear the full autopsy report eventually?

When they beach themselves do they generally stay on land for long?

They don't die, do they? It must be something pretty disturbing for them to flock out of their habitat like that in such big numbers.

Interesting the ability they have to communicate to each other via sonar properties, possibly the very thing that forced them "on the beach, beaching"

reply to post by interestedalways


The article didn't say if they all died or not. I'm assuming beached dolphins are similar to beached whales:

Beaching is often fatal for whales, as they become dehydrated and die. Some die when their lungs are suffocated under their own weight or drown when high tides cover their blowholes.

en.wikipedia.org...

There are quite a few reasons given on the Wiki page as causes for beachings, but this one's pretty interesting:

A controversial theory, researched by Jim Berkland, a former geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, attributes the strange behaviour to radical changes in the Earth's magnetic field just prior to earthquakes and in the general area of earthquakes. Berkland says when this occurs, it interferes with sea mammals' and even migratory birds' ability to navigate, which explains the mass beachings. He says even dogs and cats can sense the disruptions, which explains elevated rates of runaway pets in local newspapers a day or two before earthquakes occur. Research on Earth's magnetic field and how it is affected by moving tectonic plates and earthquakes is ongoing.

[edit on 9/2/09 by Evasius]

reply to post by spinkyboo

Military Sonar is commonly responsible for the beaching of marine animals.
Perhaps there was some testing going on.

High powered sonar is the first thing I always think of when I hear about these beachings.



Maybe they were chasing a sub or something ...

I've found some good news, though I can only find it at one source so far (it's on Yahoo news but is reported by the AFP):

Beached dolphins guided to safety in Philippines

BALANGA, Philippines (AFP) - - Scores of fisherman and volunteers managed to guide more than 200 dolphins into deep water after they beached themselves in Manila Bay, officials in the Philippines said Tuesday.

Three of the dolphins were found dead and authorities feared others would die unless they could guide them into deeper water.

Excellent news that only 3 of over 200 actually died. I still wonder what drove such a large amount off course...we may never know.


*EDIT* and just found another article:

Philippines prevents 200 dolphins from beaching

“We prevented a massive stranding. We’re now trying to find out what exactly is causing this strange behavior,” Sarmiento said.

[edit on 10/2/09 by Evasius]

reply to post by interestedalways


I’m sorry to say most of the time yes they do die.

In fact there’ve been many cases when whole communities go to work to *save* these animals by keeping them wet and covered from the sun, towing them back out to deeper water only to have the dolphins (or whales) turn right back around and beach themselves all over again.

It’s a horrible tragic thing.
I hate this so much.
And I don’t believe it’s a natural process.
I also don’t think we will ever find out who’s responsible for this either.


Here’s another article about hundreds of whales and dolphins beaching themselves - and once again stating there is *no known reason* for this activity.

see source here

She said boats were patrolling nearby to encourage them to continue heading out to sea rather than return to the beach.
"The real concern is that they might come back and strand. It is really quite common for pods to restrand so we are hoping it won't happen," Ms Campbell said.
(snip)
Dozens of stranded pilot whales were shot dead in January in New Zealand after it was ruled too difficult to get them back in the sea.
The biggest recorded mass stranding on the New Zealand coast involved 1,000 pilot whales on the Chatham Islands in 1918.
Experts say they are unable to explain why the mammals swim into the dangerously shallow waters.

peace

I would say that the cause would likely be High Powered Sonar.

I was unaware of how Sonar affects marine life until last week when Pierce Brosnan told me about it in this 5 minute video:

Lethal Sound - narrated by Pierce Brosnan

That was a very good video.

I had no idea that this *beaching* has happened so many times.

How very painful it must be to those whales and dolphins that their ears actually bleed!

I am still touched by the human spirit that so many rally together in an attempt to save them and get them back into the water.

It seems nothing is sacred anymore when it comes to the testing and use of more weaponolgy. How very sad.

Originally posted by interestedalways
I had no idea that this *beaching* has happened so many times.

How very painful it must be to those whales and dolphins that their ears actually bleed!

How very sad.

I had no idea either. I've heard stories about what I thought to be a somewhat normal occurrence where a whale would lose its way and become beached.

I never heard about High Power sonar and how it effects marine life. It's sad.

Random article found in google about sonar and marine life

[edit on 10-2-2009 by dreb13]

[edit on 10-2-2009 by dreb13]

could have somthing to do with the australian fires and all the other freak weather we are getting at the minute..

Birds have been falling out of the sky as many as hundreds (which has been recently prooven that they use the earths magnetic fieald to navigate)

What if whales and dolphins do to..

Global Climate Change is an Issue but dont confuse this with global warming as its different things!

I feel the earths changing and the mayans predicted it we are just seeing the start of the earths coming troubles. Nothing unusual will be happening its a normal event. Just not a very good one. Read about polar shift. And the sun cycles and global climate change and how it is not global warming i wont put the points of them all on here but do your own research and tell me what you think.