I’ve just received news from ocean noise coalition member Sigi Luber about a mass stranding of Rough Toothed dolphins on Cape Verde. There seems to be over 50 that began hitting the beach last Tuesday Oct 20. Sigi sent an…
Category: Strandings
Mass Sperm Whale Stranding in Italy – Follow-up
A bit more information has come in on the sperm whales washed ashore on the Italian Gargano Peninsula a few weeks back. The necropsies have revealed that the animals had ingested large amounts of plastic – probably mistaking it for…
Mass Sperm Whale Stranding in Italy
Between December 10 and 11 seven sperm whales washed ashore on the Italian Gargano Peninsula. It has taken a few days to sort through the data and speculations. Necropsies are being performed by Sandro Mazzariol of Padova University. Mass strandings…
Communication signals threaten marine habitat
Back in the mid 1970’s Physical Oceanographer Walter Munk was evaluating the acoustical transmission characteristics of the ocean “sound channel” – an isothermal layer in the deep ocean that baleen whales use for long distance communication. His visionary work in…
Hanalei Bay melon headed whale stranding not a “lunar” event.
OCR board members and Acoustic Ecology director Jim Cummings sent a follow-up article on the 2004 Hanalei Bay melon headed whale “embayment” citing a paper by Bob Brownell which put the “lunar connection” of this event to rest. Jim’s blog…
Lunar connection on Hanalei Bay stranding nixed.
On the morning of July 3 2004 there was an agitated aggregation of Melon Headed whales in Hanalei Bay, Hawai’i. This event was concurrent to the RIMPAC international naval exercise which happens every two years. As is typical with these…
US Navy and National Marine Fisheries Service work on Pacific Northwest sonar guidelines
“The July 13 Federal Register reported that the Navy wants NMFS to permit up to 14 dead marine mammals from its proposed sonar use up to 250 miles from the Northwest coast…” In ongoing discussions about defining the Pacific Northwest…
Cornwall Mass Stranding Event
The mass stranding event (MSE) in Cornwall UK last year points to Navy sonar. But if you read through the very comprehensive report you can see why it is difficult to arrive at unimpeachable scientific conclusions. The report is here:…
Reflections on “saving” whales
An indecent cited in the UK Independent highlights one of the tragic ironies of well-meaning citizens attempting to push stranded whales back out to sea. My speculative belief is that stranded marine mammals actually know what they are doing, and…
March 2009 DC visit and Strandings
I am currently on route to Washington DC to attend the “Blue Vision Ocean Summit” coordinated by David Helvarg’s Blue Frontiers. This should be a good dose of “Old Home Week” with up to 500 Ocean Activists and colleagues all…