Dear all,
Once more we have bad news regarding Cuvier's beaked whales in the
Greek Seas. The local population unit, which has repeatedly been
affected by naval sonar activity of NATO or of national navies in
the past may be steadily heading towards its extinction.
Today 1st April 2014 between 12:00 and 13:30 pm at least five
Cuvier's beaked whales stranded atypically so far in the area of
Ierapetra, SE Crete. Three animals stranded together in the same
location and two other individuals stranded together some 17 km
further west. Two more individuals stranded as single individuals
2.7 km and 500 m further west along the coast, but there is no way
to know if these were additional individuals or some of those
already stranded earlier. All animals were alive when stranded. One
of them died and all other were led offshore by local people and not
seen again until now.
After a quick search in the internet we found that the Israeli,
Greek and US Navy are conducting a trilateral two-week military
exercises in the area of Crete (named Noble Dina 2014). The naval
activity includes anti-submarine warfare (ASW), which indicates the
use of military sonar, well known as the cause of many mass
strandings of Ziphiids around the world.
During their 5th
Meeting of the Parties (Morocco, November 2013) the Agreement
for the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Mediterranean and Black
Sea
(ACCOBAMS) have for first time identified on a map the areas
where
sonar should be avoided in the Mediterranean Sea, and made this
information
publicly available. One of these areas on the map is SE Crete
where the new mass stranding occurred.
A bit earlier we contacted competent Greek authorities including the
Greek focal point of ACCOBAMS to inform them about the new mass
stranding and to request their intervention, so that no use of
military sonar is made during the exercise today and following days.
The port-police authorities and local volunteers have been alerted
and we just hope that tomorrow we won't find more animals along the
coasts.
How
many more whale deaths to spark real mitigation at the
regional and international level?
Best wishes,
Alexandros
--
___________________________________________
Dr. Alexandros Frantzis
Scientific director
Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute
Terpsichoris 21
16671 Vouliagmeni,
GREECE
Tel.: +30-210-8960108
e-mail: afrantzis@otenet.gr
website: http://www.pelagosinstitute.gr
___________________________________________
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