Sonar Tests Linked to Porpoise Deaths

Monday, August 11, 2003
Necropsy results implicate the U.S. Navy in the deaths of several marine mammals on the West Coast, some animal experts say.

Days after a U.S. Navy ship passed through the Haro Strait in May, dead porpoises began washing up on shore.

The USS Shoup had been conducting sonar testing in the strait. Whales were seen fleeing the area and acting erratically during the tests. Soon afterwards, porpoises began washing up on the shores of the San Juan Islands.

The porpoises were frozen, checked under a CT scanner and necropsied.

Photos from the necropsies show trauma that some animal experts say is clearly the result of the sonar testing.

Ken Balcomb of the Centre for Whale Research says the photos show very severe hemorrhaging.

"This is another smoking gun for me," Balcomb says of the necropsy results.

Marine mammal expert Anna Hall agrees.

"What that tells us is that there was enough energy in that sound to actually rupture membranes and cause internal bleeding and perhaps death," Hall says.

Hall says it is impossible to be absolutely sure that the piercing sound of the sonar testing caused the porpoises' deaths, but in her opinion there is "a high probability."

The U.S. government is investigating the deaths, but the final results of the inquiry aren't expected for another couple of months.

A decision is expected from Congress next month on whether to exempt the U.S. Navy from the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

"I'm concerned that the design of the way this whole investigation has gone on is intended to slow things down," Balcomb says.

The U.S. Navy says they are concerned about the health of marine mammals, but it says the sonar tests will go on because the training saves soldiers' lives in combat.