NOTE: AND DON'T FORGET WHAT HAARP AND THE U.S. NAVY (AND OTHERS?) ARE DOING TO EXPLODE THEIR BRAINS USING ULF!
http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=624
Whales in Trouble Worldwide
09-Jul-2001
Whales are moving to new locations, and dying off, at a great rate. Some
may be moving because they sense a change of temperature in the deep ocean,
while others are dying off in their traditional waters due to toxins and
noise pollution.
A large number of endangered sperm whales are making a home in the Gulf of
Mexico, near the dangerously busy mouth of the Mississippi River, a few

miles from the Louisiana coast. Sperm whales usually hunt far out in the
ocean and it is unusual for them to remain so close to shore. Also, the
presence of the approximately 500 of these creatures, some of them bigger
than a Greyhound bus, presents a danger to the supertankers, barges,
trawlers and warships in the area— and the ships could prove dangerous to
the whales.
Scientists are undertaking two research voyages to learn why these waters
have become an oasis for the whales. Biologists will attach digital tags to
track the whales by satellite. They also will collect skin samples for DNA
tests to determine whether the whales are newcomers or have lived in the
northern Gulf for generations.
But the real danger to the whales, researchers say, is noise. The
increasing industrial cacophony below the waves — propellers, diesel
engines, seismic booms, grinding drills and sonar pings — could damage the
whales’ sensitive communications and navigation organs, with potentially
fatal consequences.
“We didn’t expect to be running into sperm whales right off the Mississippi
Delta, in the middle of all this activity,” said Randall Davis of Texas A&M
University at Galveston. “Their endangered status is supposed to afford
them additional consideration for their protection. But these whales have
not yet received a lot of attention.”
The northern Gulf is also one of the world’s most important oil fields.
Drilling in deeper waters is a major part of the White House’s plan to
expand energy production. At least 45 rigs in the Gulf operate at depths of
1,000 to 10,000 feet. Sperm whales are among the few creatures that can
dive that deep. Industry officials say oil companies are exploring how to
drill safely around the whales in compliance with the federal Endangered
Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Several factors are drawing the whales closer to shore, scientists believe.
First, the Continental Shelf plunges 1,000 feet just a few miles offshore.
Sperm whales typically hunt in deep water and submarine canyons. Also,
swirling warm and cold currents mingle waters from the Atlantic and
Caribbean. Biological diversity erupts where these eddies converge. A third
factor is the huge volume of freshwater pouring from the Mississippi River.
It seeds the ocean with nutrients, spawning a rich food chain.
In recent years, fertilizer and livestock manure flushing from the nation’s
Farm Belt have triggered an ecological chain reaction that depletes the
water of oxygen, suffocating marine life. Yet the whales are flourishing on
the deep-water edge of this “dead zone,” and scientists can’t figure out
what they could be eating. It’s another question researchers will try to
answer this summer.
According to Robert Gisiner, of the Office of Naval Research, surviving
marine life may be hiding there, trying to avoid tuna and other speedy,
predatory fish. “Whales are expert oceanographers,” he says. “They’re
having a field day.”
While the Gulf is gaining sperm whales, the creatures made famous by Moby
Dick, San Juan Island, off Washington State, is losing its beloved orcas.
Dozens have washed up on the beaches, including a mother with her young
calf. The orcas have returned to the waters of Haro Strait to feed each
spring for 10,000 years.
“We have had so many losses, I thought, ‘Well, we are at the bottom,’” says
Astrid Maria van Ginneken, a professor from the University of Netherlands
who is studying the Orcas at the Center for Whale Research. Then the center
announced that another 7 whales were missing and presumed dead, reducing
the local population to 78. “I thought, ‘Oh God! This can't be true,’” van
Ginneken says. “I thought, ‘Where is this going to end?’”
Many things have gone wrong in the orcas’ home waters: there are dwindling
runs of their favorite salmon and toxins dumped in the water that
accumulate in their fat. Several studies have suggested that an increase in
underwater noise from boat engines and depth finders may be damaging orcas’
hearing. “It’s sickening; it’s sad,” says Carey Worthen, who keeps his
36-foot Maine lobster boat in Friday Harbor. “And the season’s not over
yet. I’d be surprised if we don't lose another one or two whales.”
Van Ginneken estimates the chances of the whales returning at less than one
percent. Mark Anderson, who heads the organization Orca Relief, agrees.
“When social structure is damaged, the death rates may go up.”
“It’s a real blow to the heart to realize that the family of whales is
eroding,” says Gary Boothman, the mayor of Friday Harbor. “It seems to be a
symbol that a lot of things we’ve taken for granted are slowly going away.”