Bad news for whales and dolphins: Navy to expand sonar testing [View all]
Source: NBC News
SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Navy plans to increase sonar testing over the next five years, even as research it funded reveals worrying signs that the loud underwater noise could disturb whales and dolphins.
Reported mass strandings of certain whale species have increased worldwide since the military started using sonar half a century ago. Scientists think the sounds scare animals into shallow waters where they can become disoriented and wash ashore, but technology capable of close monitoring has emerged only in about the last decade.
Aside from strandings, biologists are concerned marine mammals could suffer prolonged stress from changes in diving, feeding and communication.
Two recent studies off the Southern California coast found that certain endangered blue whales and beaked whales stopped feeding and fled from recordings of sounds similar to military sonar.
Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/science/bad-news-whales-dolphins-navy-expand-sonar-testing-2D11749987
= new reply since forum marked as read