Navy sonar incident alarms experts

Navy sonar incident alarms experts
Christopher Dunagan - Sun Staff

8th May 2003

The Sun Link

J Pod, a group of Puget Sound
orcas, grows agitated as the Navy
destroyer USS Shoup passes by
in the background with its sonar
turned on. Observers in the area
Monday said the sonar was so
loud that the orcas
uncharacteristically split into two
groups, coming back together the
next day.

Photo courtesy of Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research

“The Shoup uses a type of sonar that has killed beaked whales in the Bahamas and Canary Islands. The boat in the center is one of the many whale-watch vessels operating in the San Juans”.

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Ken Balcomb, long-time orca researcher in the San Juans, said the sonar appears to be the same type that killed seven beaked whales in the Bahamas in spring 2000.

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Reach Christopher Dunagan at (360) 792-9207 or at cdunagan@thesunlink.com.

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