Correlating military sonar use with beaked whale mass strandings: What do the historical data show?

There have been several incidents in which U.S. Navy sonar operations at sea coincided in time and location with a mass stranding of marine mammals, particularly beaked whales. Although a conclusive cause-and-effect relationship has not been established, there is strong evidence and scientific conce...

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Main Authors: Filadelfo, R., Mintz, J., Michlovich, E., D’Amico, A., Tyack, P., Ketten, Darlene
Format: Journal Article
Published: Western Illinois University Regional Center 2009
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40125
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author Filadelfo, R.
Mintz, J.
Michlovich, E.
D’Amico, A.
Tyack, P.
Ketten, Darlene
author_facet Filadelfo, R.
Mintz, J.
Michlovich, E.
D’Amico, A.
Tyack, P.
Ketten, Darlene
author_sort Filadelfo, R.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description There have been several incidents in which U.S. Navy sonar operations at sea coincided in time and location with a mass stranding of marine mammals, particularly beaked whales. Although a conclusive cause-and-effect relationship has not been established, there is strong evidence and scientific concern that use of military sonar has resulted in beaked whale mass strandings. Most previous attempts to determine whether military sonar use and whale strandings are correlated have looked at mass stranding records of beaked whales and have singled out those instances in which military operations appear to coincide in time and location with a mass stranding event. In this study, historical data on beaked whale mass strandings and military exercises that were likely to include active sonar use were compiled, and statistical analyses were performed to determine the level of correlation between these events for four geographic regions. Strandings were significantly correlated with naval activity in the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas, but not off the coasts of Japan and southern California.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-401252017-02-28T01:37:05Z Correlating military sonar use with beaked whale mass strandings: What do the historical data show? Filadelfo, R. Mintz, J. Michlovich, E. D’Amico, A. Tyack, P. Ketten, Darlene There have been several incidents in which U.S. Navy sonar operations at sea coincided in time and location with a mass stranding of marine mammals, particularly beaked whales. Although a conclusive cause-and-effect relationship has not been established, there is strong evidence and scientific concern that use of military sonar has resulted in beaked whale mass strandings. Most previous attempts to determine whether military sonar use and whale strandings are correlated have looked at mass stranding records of beaked whales and have singled out those instances in which military operations appear to coincide in time and location with a mass stranding event. In this study, historical data on beaked whale mass strandings and military exercises that were likely to include active sonar use were compiled, and statistical analyses were performed to determine the level of correlation between these events for four geographic regions. Strandings were significantly correlated with naval activity in the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas, but not off the coasts of Japan and southern California. 2009 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40125 Western Illinois University Regional Center restricted
spellingShingle Filadelfo, R.
Mintz, J.
Michlovich, E.
D’Amico, A.
Tyack, P.
Ketten, Darlene
Correlating military sonar use with beaked whale mass strandings: What do the historical data show?
title Correlating military sonar use with beaked whale mass strandings: What do the historical data show?
title_full Correlating military sonar use with beaked whale mass strandings: What do the historical data show?
title_fullStr Correlating military sonar use with beaked whale mass strandings: What do the historical data show?
title_full_unstemmed Correlating military sonar use with beaked whale mass strandings: What do the historical data show?
title_short Correlating military sonar use with beaked whale mass strandings: What do the historical data show?
title_sort correlating military sonar use with beaked whale mass strandings: what do the historical data show?
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40125