Navy tests sonar in the waters to the west….
When the Navy uses sonar in the waters inhabited by whale, you can be sure of one thing: It’s rough on marine mammals who get around using echolocation to “see” with. At the least… A number of us have petitioned the Navy to stop the exercises, and it’s gone to the Courts & back…presently the Navy is allowed to carry on with its work.
Tuesday evening, whale photographer Jeanne Hyde started hearing sounds – now she files this report (as of Wednesday evening):
Starting at about 7pm I began hearing strange electronic type noises on the Lime Kiln hydrophones… I contacted a few people trying to figure out just what it was…then all of a sudden a loud ‘PING’ – it was sonar… at first it was intermitent…then it got consistent. I logged in what I heard until 4:30 a.m.
Please go to my blog (click here) and read what happened..also on my blog, there is a link to Scott’s blog where he wrote what he heard.. and a link to Orcagirl where she made some recordings.
(Note from Val Viers, adding to this conversation: “Just a heads up that some Navy ship (probably one or more submarines) put a lot of noise into the Haro Strait last night for 6 – 8 hours. My hydrophones and those at Lime Kiln lighthouse picked up SONAR pings and lots of what sounded like garbled human conversation for hours and hours.
The Whale Museum works with Beam Reach Marine Science and Sustainability School to maintain a net work of hydrophones that are listening 24/7 and streaming to the world. Check out my son Scott’s blog entry at: http://www.beamreach.org/blog/2009/04/07/sonar-in-haro-strait )
The Navy comment period for extended training in these inland waters ends on April 13th.
If you haven’t already send them a comment there is a link on my blog so you can – it’s on the right hand column. If you already have, send it along to someone that you think cares and will weigh in with their opinion.
When it hurt my ears over the computer I cannot imagine how it may have impacted marine life.
Jeanne
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