Re: [MARMAM] Melon head whales stranding in Cape Verde

Salvador et. al I have attached a report by Bob Brownell et. al. that he gave at the International Whaling Commission meeting a few years ago. There is much information on the coincidence of marine mammal strandings and Naval exercises. The Brownell report summarizes many events around US Naval operations in Japan and includes some citations. The most recent large scale melon headed whale event occurred in Hanalei Bay in July 2004. An evaluation of this event from the US National Marine Fisheries service can be found here: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/health/stranding_melonheadedwhales_final_re port.pdf Good luck with your work. Michael Stocker Ocean Conservation Research www.OCR.org Report as follows: SC/56E37 Mass Strandings of Cuvier’s Beaked Whales in Japan: U.S. Naval Acoustic Link? Robert L. Brownell, Jr., Tadasu Yamada, James G. Mead and Anton L. van Helden Southwest Fisheries Science Center National Science Museum 1352 Lighthouse Ave. Shinjuju, Tokyo, Pacific Grove, California Japan USA Smithsonian Institution Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa National Museum of Natural History P. O. Box 467 Washington, DC 20560 Wellington USA New Zealand INTRODUCTION Cuvier’s beaked whales, Ziphius cavirostris, are abundant in many parts of the world and are commonly known from numerous single strandings throughout much of their range (Backus and Schevill 1961, Gaskin 1968, Harmer 1927, Mitchell 1968). Taylor et al. (2004) listed 31 mass strandings (i.e. strandings involving two or more animals) of Cuvier’s beaked whales that were recorded worldwide between 1914 and 2002. These included both single species and multispecies mass stranding events. Ten of these strandings since 1974 were associated with naval maneuvers and three of the ten strandings were directly correlated with naval operations known to be using mid-frequency(MF) active tactical sonar (Zimmer 2004, Balcomb and Claridge 2001). One stranding occurred at the same time as Low Frequency Active Sonar (LFAS) and MF testing (Frantzis 1998, NATO-SACLANTCEN 1998) and a recent mass stranding of this species is associated with seismic testing (Taylor et al. 2004). All of the mortality events associated with naval activity occurred during the past 30 years. However, none of the mass strandings of Z. cavirostris reported by Taylor et al. (2004) were from Japan. Balcomb and Claridge (2001) reported details of a March 2000 multispecies mass stranding in the Bahamas, an event which included eight Z. cavirostris. They noted that individual Cuvier’s beaked whales which had been repeatedly photographically identified in the region were not re-sighted after the stranding. This observation suggests that the number of whales killed during naval operations may be significantly higher than the number of whales that mass strand. Ishikawa (1994) reported 68 Cuvier’s beaked whales that stranded on the coast of Japan between 1960 and 1993. This paper examines in detail the Ishikawa (1994) strandings plus additional strandings of Cuvier’s beaked whales around Japan between 1994 and 2004 and suggests a possible explanation for the unusual pattern of some of these strandings. METHODS Our definition of a mass stranding of beaked whales is when two or more animals (excluding female-calf pairs) strand simultaneously in the same location. This is the normal type of mass stranding observed with sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), pilot whales (Globicephala spp.), false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens), etc. Also the “atypical mass stranding” as noted by Frantzis (1998, 2004) is defined as more than two whales (including one or more species) that strand approximately simultaneously but not in the same location. As a control, we sought a comparable island area to that of Japan that lay within the range of this species in the Pacific Ocean but without facilities or vessels for major operations and for which there is a good record of cetacean stranding events. The control area chosen was New Zealand, a region in which Ziphius is known to occur commonly. RESULTS Ishikawa (1994) reported 68 Cuvier’s beaked whales that had stranded on the coast of Japan starting between 1960 and 1993. These records include eight cases of mass strandings between 1960 and 1990 with a total of 43 individuals. Additional stranding records (National Science Museum, Tokyo) from Japanese waters yielded another 43 records of Cuvier’s beaked whales between the late 1950s and May 2004. Combined these data comprise 111 stranded whales including ten mass strandings with a total of 47 individuals. The mass strandings involved between 2 to 13 individuals. In seven of the ten mass strandings, all individuals were alive at the time of the stranding. Six of the ten mass strandings with more than two whales each were considered atypical strandings with whales scattered over a larger area. All of the mass strandings occurred in either Suruga Bay or Sagami Bay on the central Pacific coast of Honsu; in contrast the individual strandings occurred throughout the Japanese Archipelago. The only other mass stranding of beaked whales around Japan occurred on 24 July 1987 when four live Baird’s beaked whales, Berardius bairdii, stranded at Miura, Sagami Bay. One of these whales was returned to the sea and the others were trucked to Wadaura where they were examined at the Gaibo Hogei Whaling Station on 26 July. No gross lesions were found in these whales (RLB and William A. Walker, unpublished data). These whales stranded eight days after two dead Z. cavirostris (Table 1) were discovered (on 16 July 1987) in Suruga Bay. Only two other possible mass strandings of beaked whales are known from the Pacific coast of Japan (Ishikawa pers. comm.). These are: (1) two Mesoplodon densirostris (one dead and one live), probably a female and calf at Atsumi (near Nagoya) on 29 March 1999, and (2) two dead Mesoplodon sp. on 1 October 1993 at Nemuro, Hokkaido. We examined 97 records of Cuvier’s beaked whales that stranded around North and South Islands, New Zealand between 1862 and 2004 (Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington dataset). All of the records were single strandings except for four pairs. At least two of these pairs appear to be female/calf pairs. Details on the other two pairs are lacking to determine the relationship of the whales. No mass strandings of this species larger than two whales are known from New Zealand waters. DISCUSSION Cuvier’s beaked whales were first reported from Japanese waters when two whales were taken by fisherman in 1935 (Ogawa 1937a,b). These whales are known to be abundant in the Pacific coast waters of Japan and were commonly hunted for food after the end of World War II (Omura et al. 1955). Nishiwaki (1967) reported without any additional details that: “From 1961 to 1965, from 3 to 10 individuals were stranded annually on the shores in Sagami Bay and the Izu Peninsula. The cause of this unusual incident has not been explained. Ten skeletons of the above individuals are kept in the Whales Research Institute”. Omura (1972) describes the ten Ziphius noted by Nishiwaki (1967) but Omura (1972:2) noted that "To my regret the data on the exact time, place, body length, sex, and other particulars of the animals are missing, but if I correctly remember most of them had stranded on the sandy beach of Sagami Bay at different times and not in mass." The ten mass strandings of Ziphius from Sagami Bay and Suruga Bay reported here each had between 2 and 13 individuals per stranding event. The mean group size of free-swimming Cuvier’s beaked whales along the Pacific coast of Japan is 4.7 animals (Toshio Kasuya, per. comm., unpublished data from July 1984 cruise in Pacific Japanese waters to study the distribution and behavior of Baird’s beaked whales [see Kasuya 1986 for details of the cruise]). Therefore, the larger Japanese mass strandings in 1978, 1979 and 1990 reported here may have comprised more than one group of these whales. Between 1948 and 1952, and from 1965 and 1970, 145 individuals of Ziphius were killed by small-type Japanese whaling operations just outside the 1,000 m contour that is close to shore around Izu Penisula [to the west in Suruga Bay and to the east in Sagami Bay] (Omura et al.1955, Nishiwaki and Oguro 1972). Catches were made in all months in this region except July during the 1965 to 1970 period. We report here strandings in this region in July (Table 1) and sightings in July 1984. Therefore, Cuvier’s beaked whales are considered to be year-round residents off Sagami and Suruga Bays. Sagami Bay is west and south of Tokyo Bay to which it is connected by a narrow opening. Yokosuka, near the mouth of Tokyo Bay, is the command base for operations of the US Navy’s Pacific Seventh Fleet. Therefore, a large number of U.S. Navy ships use Yokosuka as their homeport or transit through Yokosuka while deployed to the western Pacific. U.S. Navy ships may have tested their tactical mid-range frequency sonars after departing Yokosuka or conducted sonar operations that coincided with the mass strandings reported here. Some Japanese Self-Defense Forces vessels with tactical mid-range sonar systems that have been correlated with beaked whale mass strandings were obtained by Japan from the US Navy. No mass strandings of three or more animals were found among the 97 Cuvier’s beaked whales reported from New Zealand waters. The New Zealand navy is based in Auckland but none of the vessels in their fleet has the type of mid-range frequency sonar used by the U.S. Navy that has been implicated in beaked whales strandings. [ANTON] Frantzis (1998, 2004) reported that only eight mass strandings of Cuvier’s beaked whales with more than four whales had been reported worldwide between 1963 and 1996. The number of individuals, location, and year in each event was: (1) 5, Puerto Rico, 1965 (Erdman 1970); (2) 6, Galapagos, 1983 (Robinson et al. 1983); (3) 6, Japan, 1979 (Miyazaki 1989); (4) 10, Japan, 1972 (Miyazaki 1989); (5) 12, Canary Islands, 1885 (Simmonds and Lopez-Jurado 1991); (6) 15, Italy, 1963 (Tortonese 1963); (7) 19, Canary Islands, 1989 (Simmonds and Lopez-Jurado 1991), and (8) 12, Greece, 1996 (Frantzis 1998). The oldest of these strandings, from Italy in 1963, is the first known atypical mass stranding of Cuvier’s beaked whales and this stranding coincided in time with the introduction and deployment of mid-frequency tactical sonars. During the time period (1963 through 1996) examined by Frantzis (1998) we can add our additional four mass stranding events with more than four Cuvier’s beaked whales in each stranding to his eight strandings. As noted above, the ten Cuvier’s beaked whales from Japan in 1972 was not a mass stranding (see Omura 1972). In addition, since the review by Frantzis (1998), four more atypical mass strandings of this species have been recorded (Taylor et al. 2004). In its review of the effect of noise on marine mammals, the U.S. National Research Council (2003) identified a number of specific research needs and recommended strategies for addressing gaps in our current understanding of this issue. However, retrospective reviews of existing data were not one of the NRC recommendations. Based on our review of Cuvier’s beaked whale mass strandings in Japan, we recommend a more in-depth retrospective review of the activities of U. S. Naval activities based in Yokosuka at the time of these strandings. We also recommend a detailed retrospective review of beaked whale mass strandings in areas around other US naval bases (i.e. Adak, Alaska [Walker and Hanson 1999]; Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico [Erdman 1970]; and Midway, Hawaii [Galbreath 1963]) as well as other parts of the world where various naval operations have been using tactical mid-frequency sonar systems. Finally, we recommend that the area were Cuvier’s beaked whales were hunted in Pacific coast Japanese waters, especially around Sagami Bay, be surveyed to assess the current status of this species in the area. Are any of these Japanese mass strandings of Ziphius and the one mass stranding of Berardius, related to naval operations with acoustical components in the deep coastal waters off central Japan? The co-occurrence of the mass strandings and the US Navy activity in this region strongly suggests such a relationship. The correlation is particularly noteworthy when contrasted with the lack of mass strandings of Ziphius around the rest of Japan and around New Zealand (our control area); in both cases, the area concerned is marked by either no concentration of naval activity, or no use of tactical mid-frequency sonar. Table 1. Mass strandings of Cuvier’s beaked whales, Ziphius cavirostris, on the central Pacific coast of Honshu. Data are from Ishikawa (1994). Date Number Stranded Live or Dead Location Remarks 3 III 1960 2 live Oshima Island, Sagami Bay 12 III 1963 3 dead Chigasaki, Sagami Bay Total of 12 III 1963 1 dead Hiratsuka, Sagami Bay 8-10 whales 2 II 1964 1 dead Chigasaki, Sagami Bay 2 II 1964 1 dead Chigasaki, Sagami Bay 16 III 1967 1 live Kanagawa, Sagami Bay 16 III 1967 1 live Odawara, Sagami Bay 25 I 1978 5 live Atami, Sagami Bay 25 I 1978 2 live Atami, Sagami Bay 25 I 1978 1 live Atami, Sagami Bay 25 I 1978 1 live Atami, Sagami Bay 17 X 1978 4 live Shimizu, Suruga Bay 7 XI 1979 13 live Odawara, Sagami Bay 16 VII 1987 1 dead Numazu, Suruga Bay 16 VII 1987 1 dead Shizuoka, Suruga Bay 21 II 1989 3 live Ninomiya, Sagami Bay 5 IV 1990 1 live Shimizu, Suruga Bay 5 IV 1990 3 live Numazu, Suruga Bay 5 IV 1990 1 live Numazu, Suruga Bay 5 IV 1990 1 live Numazu, Suruga Bay ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The NMSF Office of Protected Resources’ Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program provided funding for RLB to visit Japan to gather additional details on Japanese Ziphius mass strandings. Toshio Kasuya provided sighting observations of Ziphius from his July 1984 survey along the Pacific coast of Japan. Hiroshi Ohizumi, Department of Fisheries, School of Marine Science and Technology, Tokai University, Shimizu, Shizuoka, Japan provided details of the Kubota 17 October 1978 strandings after interviewing Professor Kubota. Also thanks to Mary Jacobs-Spaulding who help to organize the data in our paper. Kenneth C. Balcomb III, Phillip J. Clapham, Katherine Ralls, and Dave W. Weller made useful comments on a draft of the paper. Literature Cited Backus, R. H. and Schevill, W. E. 1961. The stranding of a Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) in Rhode Island, USA. Norsk Hvalfangst-tidende 50(5):177-181. Balcomb, K. C. and Claridge, D. E. 2001. A mass stranding of cetaceans caused by naval sonar in the Bahamas. Bahamas Journal of Science 8(2):2-12. Erdman, D. S. 1970. Marine mammals from Puerto Rico to Antigua. Journal of Mammalogy 51(3):636-639. Frantzis, A. 1998. Does acoustic testing strand whales? Nature 392:29. Frantzis, A. 2004. The first mass stranding that was associated with the use of active sonar (Kyparissiakos Gulf, Greece, 1996). Pages 14-20, In: Proceedings of the Workshop on Active Sonar and Cetaceans, P. G. H. Evans and L.A. Miller, editors, ECS Newsletter no. 42, special issue. Galbreath, E. C. 1963. Three beaked whales stranded at Midway Islands, central Pacific Ocean. Journal of Mammalogy 44(3):422-423. Gaskin, D. E. 1968. The New Zealand Cetacea. Fisheries Research Bulletin New Series 1:1-92. Harmer, S. F. 1927. Report on Cetacea stranded on the British coasts from 1913 to 1926. British Museum (Natural History) No. 10:1-91 + 7 maps. Ishikawa, H. 1994. Stranding records from Japanese coasts (1901-1993). Geiken Sosho [Institute Cetacean Research, Tokyo] 4:1- 94 [In Japanese]. Kasuya, T. 1986. Distribution and behavior of Baird’s beaked whales off the Pacific coast of Japan. Scientific Reports of the Whales Research Institute 37:61-83. Mitchell, E. 1968. Northeast Pacific stranding distribution and seasonality of Cuvier’s beaked whale, Ziphius cavirostris. Canadian Journal of Zoology 46:265-279. Miyazaki, N. 1989. Stranding records of cetaceans on the coast of Japan. IBI Reports 1:21-25. National Research Council. 2003. Ocean Noise and Marine Mammals. The National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. 193 pp. NATO-Saclantcen. 1998. Report of the SACLANTCEN Bioacoustic Panel and SACLANTCEN Marine Mammal Environmental Policy and Mitigation Procedures Panel, La Spezia, 15-19 June. NATO Saclantcen, La Spezia, Italy. Nishiwaki, M. 1967. Distribution and migration of marine mammals in the North Pacific Area. Bulletin of the Ocean Research Institute University of Tokyo 1:1-64. Nishiwaki, M. and Oguro, N. 1972. Catch of the Cuvier’s beaked whales off Japan in recent years. Scientific Reports of the Whales Research Institute 24:34-41. Ogawa, T. 1937a. Studien uber die Zahnwale in Japan. 7. Cogia (continued), VII. Ziphius. [Plants and Animals] 5:24-34. [In Japanese]. Ogawa, T. 1937b. Studien uber die Zahnwale in Japan. 8. Ziphius (continued), VIII. Mesoplodon. [Plants and Animals] 5:9-X. [In Japanese]. Omura, H. 1972. An osteological study of the Cuvier’s beaked whale, Ziphius cavirostris, in the northwest Pacific. Scientific Reports of the Whales Research Institute 24:1-34. Omura, H. Fujino, K. and Kimura, S. 1955. Beaked whales Berardius bairdi of Japan, with notes on Ziphius cavirostris. Scientific Reports of the Whales Research Institute 10:89-132. Robinson, G., Koster, F. and Villa, J. 1983. Stranding of Cuvier’s beaked whales on Baltra. Noticias de Galapagos 38:16-17. Simmonds, M. P. and Lopez-Jurado, L. F. 1991. Whales and the military. Nature 351:448. Taylor, B., Barlow, J., Pitman, R., Ballance, L., Klinger, T., DeMaster, D., Hildebrand, J., Urban, J., Palacios, D. and Mead, J. G. 2004. A call for research to assess risk of acoustic impact on beaked whale populations. SC/46/E36 Tortonese, E. 1963. Insolita comparsa di cetacei (Ziphius cavirostris G. Cuv.) nel golfo di Genova. Natura 54:120-122. Walker, W. A. and Hanson, M. B. 1999. Biological observations on Stejneger’s beaked whale, Mesoplodon stejnegeri, from strandings on Adak Island, Alaska. Marine Mammal Science 15:1314-1329. Zimmer, W. M. X. 2004. Sonar systems and stranding of beaked whales. Pages 8-13, In: Proceedings of the Workshop on Active Sonar and Cetaceans, P. G. H. Evans and L. A. Miller, editors, ECS Newsletter no. 42, special issue. Footnotes for each of the mass strandings 1. Two Cuvier’s beaked whales stranded on Oshima Island in Sagami Bay (Nakajima and Kurata 1960). Kurata, Y. [Enoshima Aquarium] seems to be the person who actually visited the stranding site. Both whales stranded live. Kurata estimated the total length by using his hand as a unit. The estimated lengths were 10 m for the female and the 8 m for the male. The female had a foetus 174 cm long. The body length of the female is incorrect. The largest known female is 754 cm (Mead 1984, fide Fraser 1946). Nakajima and Kurata (1960) also reported that the two whales rushed to shore straight for a fairly long distance, as if they were chased by something like killer whales. However, no killer whales were observed in the area of the strandings. 2. In an appendix of Geiken Tsushin number 146, Nakajima (1963) reported recent strandings that included four dead strandings of Cuvier’s beaked whales that he examined at Chigasaki and Hiratsuka in Sagami Bay. Total lengths of the three that stranded together were 3.5 m (male) and 6.0 m and 5.5 m (females). The total length of the fourth whale is unknown. Nakajima (1963) also noted that two more might have stranded at Odawara, Sagami Bay; 1-2 more at Atami, Sagami Bay; and 1-2 more at Ito, Sagami Bay at or about the same time as the four Cuvier’s beaked whales that stranded on 12 March 1963. Therefore, the total number of Ziphius in this mass stranding could have been 8 to 10 whales. 3. Two Cuvier’s beaked whales stranded dead at Chigasaki on 2 February 1964 (Nakajima 1995). One was a male, 450 cm that stranded at Yanagishima, Chigasaki, Sagami Bay and the other one was a female, 610 cm, that stranded at Nakamae, Chigasaki, Sagami Bay. The female was not pregnant. These two strandings were not reported by Ishikawa (1994). 4. Nakajima (1995) reported two live strandings of Cuvier’s beaked whales at Chigasaki, Sagami Bay. The first whale was a 417 cm male that stranded at 10:30 at Ninomiya, Kanagawa, Sagami Bay and the second whale was a 500 cm female that stranded at 10:45 at Kouzu, Odawara, Sagami Bay. The distance between Ninomiya and Kouzu is approximately 5 km. These two strandings were not reported by Ishikawa (1994). 5. Nine Cuvier’s beaked whales stranded live at Atami, Sagami Bay and these were reported by the Hiyoriyama Aquarium [Sea of Japan] Aquarium and Zoo database [Newsletter] (Ishikawa 1994). One of the whales from the group of five [see DO-009 in Ishikawa 1994] was 5.48 m in TL with no sex given. No details are available for the other eight whales. 6. Four Cuvier’s beaked whales stranded live and were examined by Kitamura and all total lengths were about 5 m (Ishikawa 1994). Miyazaki (1983) reported two whales (two females and one male). Miyazaki (1989) reported of two whales from this event and their sizes were 474 cm female and 475 cm. Mori (1993) reported four whales all with the same total length, 5 m, citing Kubota (1981) as his original source of data. Miyazaki (1986) reported two skulls from females on this date in National Science Museum with total lengths of 474 cm and 475 cm. The original source of this stranding was Kubota (1981). Kubota examined two of the four whales. One was a 512 cm male and the other a 563 cm female. The whales stranded at about 07:30 on 17 October 1978 on the coast of Kuno, southwest of Shimizu port. The other two whales (one a male and the sex of the other unknown) stranded several km west of the first two whales. Professor Kubota via Ohizumi, Hiroshi, provided these details. 7. Thirteen Cuvier’s beaked whales stranded live at Odawara, Sagami Bay. Some of the whales were examined by Kitamura, Shoichi of Enoshima Aquarium, and the total lengths ranged between 3.5 m to 5 m (Ishikawa 1994). Miyazaki (1983) reported six females? Miyazaki (1986) reported one skull from a female, no total length, on this date in the National Science Museum. Miyazaki (1989) reported six females on this date, one of which was 468 cm. 8. Two Cuvier’s beaked whales (male 6.7 m and female 5.38 m) stranded dead at Numazu, Suruga Bay and Shizuoka, Suruga Bay (Ishikawa 1994). Fujimaki, Yasutoshi who was working with Nakajima, examined these whales. Miyazaki (1989) reported a single stranding on this date as a 540 cm female. Mori (1993) reported two whales with total lengths of 6.7 and 5.4 m and cited Anon. (1987) as his original sources of data for the strandings. 9. Three Cuvier’s beaked whales (one was a female 5.8 m in total length) stranded live at Ninomiya, Sagami Bay (Ishikawa 1994). These whales were examined by Nakajima, Fugimaki who was also working at Enoshima Aquarium. Miyazaki (1989) reported one whale 588 cm. 10. Six Cuvier’s beaked whales stranded live at Shimizu and Numazu and were examined by Nakajima, Fugimaki and a different Yamada [who is working at Tsukiji Fish Museum] (Ishikawa 1994). The total lengths of these whales were: 5.5 m male, 3 whales between 5.52 m and 4.59 m (2 females and one unknown), 5.5 m female, and 5.54 m male. Mori (1993) reported only five whales with total lengths of 5.5, 5.5, 5.5, 5.3 and 4.6 m. Anon. (1990) appears to be the original source of his data. References to footnotes Anon. 1987. Geiken Tsushin 371:112. Anon. 1990. Geiken Tsushin 378:23-24. Fraser, F. C. 1946. Report on Cetacea stranded on the British coasts from 1933 to 1936. British Museum (Natural History) 11:1-41, 6 maps. Ishikawa, H. 1994. Stranding records from Japanese coasts (1901-1993). Geiken Sosho [The Institute of Cetacean Research, Tokyo] 4:1- 94 [In Japanese]. Kubota, T. 1981. Stranding and beaching to the shores of larger animals. Marine Science Museum 11(3):4-6. Mead, J.G. 1984. Survey of reproductive data for the beaked whales (Ziphiidae). Reports of the International Whaling Commission Special Issue 6:91-96. Miyazaki, N. 1983. [cited in Miyazaki 1989 but no reference provided] Miyazaki, N. 1986. Catalogue of marine mammals specimens. National Science Museum, Tokyo, 151 pp. Miyazaki, N. 1989. Stranding records of cetaceans on the coast of Japan. IBI Reports [International Marine Biological Research Institute, Kamogawa, Japan] 1:21-25. Mori, K. 1993. Records of cetaceans stranded and caught along the costs of Suruga Bay, central Japan 1935-1992. Bulletin Institute Oceanic Research & Development, Tokai University 14:135-141. Nakajima, M. 1963. A strayed finless porpoise. Geiken Tsushin 147:193-196. Nakajima, M. 1995. A study on Cuvier’s beaked whales, Ziphius cavirostris, stranded on the beaches. Journal of Japanese Association of Zoological Gardens and Aquaria 37(2):49-58. Nakajima, M. and Kurata, Y. 1960. Cuvier’s beaked whales stranded on Izu Oshima Island. Geiken Tsushin 110:197-201. Revised 28VI2004//25VII2004 -----Original Message----- From: marmam-bounces@lists.uvic.ca [mailto:marmam-bounces@lists.uvic.ca] On Behalf Of salvadorvet@sapo.pt Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 6:12 PM To: MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca Subject: [MARMAM] Melon head whales stranding in Cape Verde I'm a DVM working now in Portugal and I'm collaborating in the rehab of stranded dolphins in this country. I was born in Cape Verde, so I'm very aware of problems that are happening there. Right now I'm really shocked about a mass stranding of Melon Head Whales at Boavista Island, on Cape Verde the last November 18th during the night. 265 dolphins came ashore and stranded and died in spite of all the efforts made by the authorities and civilians. But the weird thing happened after: they buried all the dolphins before anyone could collect any organ or blood. Therefore no necropsy was performed. On the next day more 6 Melon Head Whales died and the biologist in charge at that island told to newspapers that when she came to the beach where they stranded, all the dolphins had been taken by people to be eaten, so she could not get any sample. The previous day the US nuclear submarine USS Annapolis (SSN760) departed from the S.Vicente Island that is one of the ten islands of Cape Verde. This submarine is there in charge against illegal immigration and drug traffic. By this time we don't have any explanation from the authorities or from the US Navy or any effort are in progress to find out the true. That appear to be too much coincidence and there are many strandings around the world related to such coincidence. All of us are aware of the bad consequences of military sonar and cetaceans, specially to "deep divers". I would like to ask if anybody has information connecting submarine sonar to cetaceans. Thank you for your help. Best regards. Salvador St.Aubyn Mascarenhas, DVM _______________________________________________ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.13/1164 - Release Date: 12/2/2007 11:30 AM Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.13/1170 - Release Date: 12/4/2007 10:52 AM