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Navy: No evidence stranding due to sonar

Navy officials say there is no evidence that the stranding of one of a rare species of whales on a Hawaiian beach Monday morning was caused by sonar activity from a large naval exercise in nearby waters.

“At this time there is no evidence that any naval activities contributed to the stranding. Marine mammal strandings are a regular occurrence in the Hawaiian Islands,” Navy spokesman Lt. Sean Robertson said, adding that 22 strandings were recorded in 2006 and that most were caused by illness or disease.

Bystanders pushed the 2,000-pound Cuvier’s beaked whale back into the ocean once after finding it on a mudflat 100 yards offshore.

“It was pointing into shore, struggling somewhat, trying to get ashore,” kayaker Drew Murphy told a Honolulu television station.

“Myself and some other local fellows tried to see if we could turn the animal so it could swim out off the beach instead of onto the beach. As the tide rose, the animal did free himself and we blockaded it to prevent it from coming toward the beach which worked partially.”

The whale swam back out to sea but beached itself again about a mile away, Murphy said.

Murphy said he then called the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Mammal Response Team to the beach. The team euthanized the whale. The Coast Guard flew its carcass to Oahu, where a necropsy will be performed by the NOAA.

The Rim of the Pacific exercise involved 35 ships, six submarines, and 150 aircraft from 10 nations. Navy officials said the ships would use mid-frequency active sonar during the final stage of the exercise, the tactical portion of which wrapped up Monday.

Scientists have said beaked whales are particularly susceptible to that type of sonar but have been unable to explain why.

Zak Smith, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group which has sued the Navy claiming that its sonar use during violates federal laws, said the group would reserve judgment until the NOAA report was finished.

“Until scientists have completed their investigation on the animal, we would not have a comment,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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