Navy fingered in whale's death

[Guest guest]

Navy fingered in whale's death

January 24, 2006

LONDON: Navy sonar and military explosions have been blamed for

disorientating the bottlenose whale that died on Saturday after two

days in the Thames.

 

Even as scientists began the post-mortem examination on the 5.5m

adolescent - believed to have been a female - the blame game had

started.

 

Marine scientists and animal welfare groups believe navy sonar

disorientated the whale.

 

Marine acoustics experts supported local residents on the north

coast of Kent, southeast of London, in blaming huge explosions from

a site operated by the defence contractor QinetiQ.

 

The Royal Navy was the first to respond to the claim.

 

" HMS Grafton was involved in a show last Friday on the coast, " a

spokesman said.

 

" The only other ship in the North Sea is HMS Severn, and she was

halfway to Belgium. Our sonar is good but not that good. "

 

In north Kent, residents reported blasts from Shoeburyness Range, a

Ministry of Defence site where QinetiQ carried out controlled

detonations last week.

 

" On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday last week, it was like being in

the middle of a war zone, " said one resident.

 

Professor Rodney Coates, who specialises in marine acoustics,

confirmed that such blasts could disorientate whales.

 

Local MP Roger Gale said: " We understand that one or more whales

were seen off Southend on Tuesday. I hope that this factor may be

taken into account during the post-mortem. "

 

QinetiQ said it did not operate sub-water testing from the

Shoeburyness Range that could affect marine life. A spokeswoman

called the claims opportunistic.

 

The five experts performing the autopsy on a Kent quayside near

where the whale died, led by Paul Jepson of the Zoological Society

of London, will examine its auditory organs. They will also look for

evidence of a brain parasite that has been known to render whales

disorientated. Sick whales head for shallower waters to die.

 

Struan Stevenson, the Conservative fisheries spokesman in the

European Parliament, said the Blair Government had failed to ensure

effective protection.

 

He said a first written warning had been sent to the Government at

the end of last year and that the death of the whale would lead to a

referral to the European Court of Justice.

 

Nikki Kelly, 32, a marine mammal expert, said: " It had no food to

eat. A healthy bottlenose can survive for several days without food,

but it had used all its strength fighting the tide.

 

" Its underbelly was scarred. It had deep head wounds. Its dorsal fin

had a large gash and its fluke was cut up. "

 

The barge rescue was risky - a whale's internal organs function

under constant water pressure - but looked the only hope.

 

Since 1913 the Natural History Museum has had the right to examine

all whale carcasses that wash ashore in Britain.

 

The museum says it may keep the skeleton after the post-mortem for

its research department. Results from the examination are expected

tomorrow.