Monday, July 4, 2011

Sonars: The cause of strandings?

As you probably know, navy ships use sonars to find submarines from foreign countries to make sure that they aren't planning an attack on U.S cities. But did you know that these sonars can damage the brains of cetaceans? It can. It can harm their brain, and their sense of direction goes out of whack. This can cause them to swim too close toward the shore and strand themselves. Stranding, also known as beaching, is very dangerous for cetaceans. When mass strandings happen, this is usually the result of sonars. If it is a single whale, it is usually because of illness or injury. When they found out that they were harming whales and dolphins, navy ships began to try to use lower sonars, but there was a problem. Foreign nations began making submarines that could only be detected by powerful sonars. This would hurt the whales even more. Many species that live in pods strand in large numbers, including pilot and beaked whales. A solution must be found, because sonars are hurting whales very much.

2 comments:

  1. It's really a shame that sonar does this to cetaceans. Unfortunately, protection of our waterways is important. Perhaps sonar patrolling in more distant waters, i.e. guarding inlets to bays and offshore areas would be enough. I'm not sure though as I don't know much about military strategy. This is very sad.

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  2. It is a shame. I don't want terrorists to attack but I don't want cetaceans to die either. It's very sad, but there really isn't a solution for it. It makes me very upset.

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