No Evidence Of Sonar-Caused Trauma On Dead Porpoises

Monday, February 9, 2004
SEATTLE - We've waited months to find out whether Navy sonar killed nearly a dozen Puget Sound porpoises. Now we know, but the answers are not what many expected and leave many questions still unanswered.

In a rare coincidence, orca researchers videotaped the Navy guided missile destroyer USS Shoup last May. It was using active, mid-range sonar on a training exercise in Puget Sound.

Researchers reported unusual, disturbed behavior among the resident killer whales.

And when dead porpoises washed up in the days and weeks following, the question became: Was the Navy sonar responsible?

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) organized a scientific panel to examine the 11 dead porpoises. Eight months after the incident, the panel announced Monday it could not find any definitive signs the sonar damaged the porpoise's ears.

That's just what the Navy has said all along.

"That scientific evidence would show that sonar did not kill or cause the death of those marine mammals," says Rear Admiral Len Hering, Commander of the Navy Region Northwest.

But there's still a problem. The report is inconclusive. While five of the animals died of injury or illness, six of the bodies were too decomposed to figure out why they died. And the scientific panel could not rule out sonar damage.

"Nothing's conclusive," says Orca Conservancy's Michael Harris. "There's a lot of shady, sketchy areas here. We don't know that the Shoup did it, we don't know it didn't do it."

So, now what? The Navy says it needs to train sonar operators and Puget Sound gives them experience that they can't get just anywhere.

"And there is a time that they have to be able to operate in that environment and I don't want that time to be for those young people to be when it's necessary to save life or limb," says Rear Admiral Hering.

"We're disappointed," adds Harris. "We feel like it's a step backwards."

Since the incident last May, the Navy has not used its active mid-range sonar in Puget Sound, Haro Strait or the Strait of Juan de Fuca. However, in light of this report, the Navy now says as long as the resident killer whales are not near the USS Shoup, there is no reason why it should not train with its sonar here.

But no word on when that might happen.

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