Mass Dolphin Beaching: Who’s To Blame, Navy Technology or Natural Causes?

Posted on June 11, 2008
Filed Under Blog, In The News |

On Monday this week a large number of dolphins beached themselves in Cornwall, 70 or so in total of which around 30 are reported to have died, an extremely rare event to say the least and obviously questions are been asked as to why this happened.

The media seems to be jumping on to the Navy’s sonar equipment as the most likely cause, but the Register has put together a convincing argument as to why that is a very tentative link at best, pointing out it was and perhaps more interesting is the focus they add to the fact fishing nets kill nearly 1000 marine animals a day, so if people find 30 dead on a beach shocking, then perhaps they need to start looking at the bigger picture and apply as much pressure on food suppliers as is been put on the Navy.

The gist of the Register’s argument comes from the fact that the live fire tests in question ended the Friday before the beachings, and that the sonar technology in use around that time was far from anything new, and in fact has been used since the 1930’s, and more commonly since the 1990’s.

Earlier reports put more focus on the likely causes been more natural, possible following fish which where attracted to the area by an algae bloom in the region, and the more becoming beached as they followed the pod’s calls for help.

So perhaps the Navy’s use of Sonar does have a role to play, but I can’t help but think because it creates such a powerful mental image, it’s easy to get distracted by the idea where there are a great number of natural options as well.

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