How Sonar affect whales:
Sonar Systems! Sonar systems produce intense waves of sound that just goes in the ocean like a light and it reveals objects in the path or tracks any activity under water. As a result it affects the habitat in the water body.
Can we relate it to someone who is doing some banging work over your roof or can we relate it to someone who is disturbing when we are relaxing in the cool and calm environment at home.
If mankind can feel how it feels when somebody keeps irritating you with a noise that you can’t bear, then I am sure mankind can feel the affect the sonar causes to our marine life especially Whales/Dolphins.
There had been many programs and measures taken by NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) scientists to protect our marine life. They have been very careful about the use and they always encourage the military to use the sonar with responsibility.
They promote measures like avoiding the routes where there is rich marine life or turning off of the sonar when they see the marine animal nearby.
We all know that hearing is the primary sense of water animals and they are more sensitive towards noise than the terrestrial animals. They can feel the sense even if the noise could be 100 kilometers away.
In the ocean or the water body it is so dark the whales/ fishes/ can only rely on sound effects. They move wherever they get the sound affect to find food , communicate , mate or to do any other work.
Scientist have proven that the sonar powerful sound waves can be heard by the whales very sharply and that is what causes them to lose their life.
We won’t believe but experiments have shown that some systems can put out over 235 decibels, a level that can spread harmful sound across hundreds of miles of ocean which can harm the whales or the marine habitat.
With the sonar affects the whales get scared and as a result they lose their way and mind and the affect causes them to flee haywire or have collisions and these strange behavior leads to death.
Many post-mortems reports show that there was an internal bleeding in the tissues that caused the death.
There are different types of sonar active sonar: mid-frequency and low-frequency.
Low-frequency sonar travels enormous distances in seawater. Mid-frequency sonar is more widely used and has been associated with cause of deaths of whale.
If we look in the past and there have been evidence in 2000 when the sonar affects have had four different type of species on the beaches on Bahamas after the US Navy battle used a mid frequency sonar.
Since then there are some species like the 13 beaked whale that have totally disappeared. If we talk about the affects sonar affects the whales in a manner that they have internal bleeding in their ear or brains or other parts and sometimes they are even cut off or they become so dry that they just die.
The report also tells about recent cases, such as the unusual behavior in Hawaii of 200 melon-headed whales in July 2004. These whales who live in deep water were observed swimming in a tight circle in shallow water just 100 feet from shore, showing clear signs of suffering and pain. One of the whales was later found to have died.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) recently released a report that backs up previous claims of the harm sonar can do. The report suggests that the noise produced by the military is damaging to whales, dolphins and porpoises and in particular, rare beaked whales.
This issue has been looked as because of the seriousness and risks of marine life due to active sonar. This has been aided a lot by tens of thousands people and other activists too, insisting that active sonar should not be used until the a long-term safety of ocean wildlife can be promised.
