So, it's no surprise that about thirty years ago, marine biologists began to report mass strandings of whales and other marine mammals around the world that coincided with naval excercises involving the use of sonar. The Natural Resources Defense Council published a report concluding that the sonar used by these naval excercises is indeed having tragic effects on these creatures, ranging from auditory damage to death.

Of course, orcas are no exception. A recent online National Geographic video tells the story of the disappearance of orcas from Washington State's Puget sound (see the map at the right). Marine biologist Ken Balcomb and his team have been studying these orca families for years. Here's what they witnessed one day:

One day in May came a shocking eruption of sound. A US Naval Destroyer entered the area, its sonar blaring into Ken's [undersea] microphone. Within minutes, he witnessed Dall's porpoises racing through the water. then a group of killer whales bolted toward shore, as if they intended to strand.

Balcomb says:

"I try not to get angry about things, but this just sort of welled up from my stomach to my throat, and I just wanted to shout. This was occuring in a known marine mammal habitat, where we know these mammals are already endangered."

Balcomb and his team managed to contact the Naval ship, and the captain halted the sonar excercise.

(Click here for the video, and do your best to ignore the dodgy corporate advertisement at the beginning!)

The video includes an interview with a scientist from the Office of Naval Research, who says that the Navy is working on alternate methods that "will enable the Navy to do its job" and conduct realistic training exercises that won't hurt marine mammals. This is great news - let's hope they really ARE going to stick to their word, because they haven't been entirely honest in the past regarding what they knew about the harm sonar could do to these mammals.

More good news is that marine wildlife conservation groups have achieved several victories (see here and here), in which the Navy has been ordered to cease sonar exercises in areas where whales and other mammals could be affected.

The orcas' story shows that we must be defenders of all cetaceans. We can be a human voice for them, something everyone can understand. We are stewards of the Earth. Let's keep up the good work!