Aegean Sea sees "very unusual" spike in dolphin deaths

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Nicholas Paphitis, Associated Press Updated 1:48 pm CDT, Monday, April 8, 2019

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The Aegean Sea has seen a "very unusual" spike in dolphin deaths over the past few weeks, a Greek marine conservation group said Monday.

The Archipelagos Institute said while it's still unclear what caused the deaths, the spike followed Turkey's largest-ever navy drills in the region -- the Feb. 27-March 8 "Blue Homeland" exercises that made constant use of sonar and practiced with live ammunition.

Fifteen dead dolphins have washed up on the eastern island of Samos and other parts of Greece's Aegean coastline since late February, the group said.

. . .

The deafening noise of sonar, used by warships to detect enemy submarines, can injure dolphins and whales, driving them to surface too fast or to beach themselves -- with sometimes fatal consequences -- as they try to escape the underwater din.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/science/article/More-dolphins-die-in-Aegean-Sea-group-suspects-13749600.php

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This is the first time I've seen "stranding's" cause explained, after all these years while dimwits kept claiming the reason wasn't really known, and the military continued full speed ahead with no modifications.

[rwsanders]

1. Is there any country out there that has a good environmental record? (and strandings)

I read that Columbia included the environment in the constitution, but don't know if that is turning into action or if they pay about as much attention to their constitution as we do to ours.
Even New Zealand has let the population of the Maui Dolphin fall to 55 because of poor fishing practices. France bombed the islands in the Pacific and sank a Greenpeace boat in a New Zealand harbor.

Any nominees for a country that actually gives a damn?

Strandings:
This isn't the only cause for strandings. There was a case back in the late '90's where 25 dolphins stranded on the U.S. east coast. NOAA's "investigation" said they died of parasites. Well the parasites they died of are a normal pathogen that they encounter and a healthy dolphin would have no trouble fending off. Think of us and the common cold. What if suddenly people were dying of a cold. So Pierre Beland, who is a toxicologist who has studied the belugas in the St. Lawrence River for years (highly contaminated with industrial pollutants and it would take a long post to explain that), wanted a tissue sample and NOAA refused. He believed that he could show that their immune systems were comprimised by the contamination in their system.

Strandings in the Gulf of Mexico are up after the BP spill and another on-going spill that has resulted in a lot of finger-pointing and no resolution to stop the discharge. It is set to pass the BP spill this year because it started before and has been continuing without end.

The book "An Unreasonable Woman" by Diane Wilson tells of her personal observations of seeing dolphins dying after Formosa plastics opened a PVC factory in Texas.

There was the sperm whale who was found dead with 80 pounds of plastic in his stomach.

There are the whales who become entangled in fishing gear.

There are those who die as by-catch such as the Vaquita and the 1200 or so mutilated dolphins that have washed up on the beaches in France.

And this isn't the first instance where cetaceans have been found stranded with their inner-ears shredded by sonar. To say nothing of the acoustic surveys conducted off the coasts looking for more oil to continue to warm the planet!!!

[GReedDiamond]

3. The "Rulers" of this planet are fucking criminally insane...nt