June 12, 200818 yr As the whole 'military sonar vs marine ecology' battle has been going on in American circles (and courts) for some years now, I'm surprised its only now reaching the far side of the Pond. (Or maybe I've just missed earlier media reports). In any event, this part of the article caught my attention ... "The Royal Navy originally said none of its ships had been in the Falmouth area over the weekend but later admitted it had been carrying out a survey in the area at the time of the strandings." As I understand it, hydrographic survey uses higher frequency sonar systems (short range but better resolution), while the sonars typically blamed for causing harm to whales and dolphins have been the long range, low frequency systems.
June 12, 200818 yr The beached whale is a long time known natural phenomenon, mostly of unknown origin, but the media ignore it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beached_whale Every year there may be beachings adding up to 2000 animals.[1] Although the majority of strandings will result in death, they pose no threat to the species as a whole. Of all of the species of cetaceans, only about 10 species are frequently involved in mass beachings, with a further 10 species rarely being involved. All of the frequently involved species are toothed whales, meaning that none of the baleen whales are regularly involved in beachings. These species share some characteristics which may explain why they beach. Body size does not normally affect the frequency, but both the animals' normal habitat and social organization do appear to influence their chances of coming ashore in large numbers.
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