and naval exercises (rockets, hazardous operations, etc). Ghana reports increase in dead whales washing ashore coinciding with extensive oil exploration activities in this area."
"Stranded whales are not soulless blobs of fat, they are individuals and
they often have
families and friends waiting desperately for them near
by only to never see them again
because lousy rescues refuse to help and
kill them. The photo is from 2010 right whale
stranding in Brazil, note
a whale breaching at the distance."
"Over
10 seismic surveys in the area caused strandings
and near-strandings of
whales in the UK, but instead of helping rescues
kill whales and REFUSE
TO INVESTIGATE POSSIBLE CONNECTION.
Epic fail at all levels."
GLOBAL SEISMIC OPERATIONS
SEISMIC TESTING IS ACOUSTIC WARFARE
CLEARING THE OCEAN OF 'BIOLOGICAL INTERFERENCE
'IF WE DIG PRECIOUS THINGS FROM THE LAND WE WILL INVITE DISASTER"
HOPI PROPHECY
PERUVIAN NAVY IN AREA OF MASS DIE-OFF LAST YEAR
AEGIS-EQUIPPED DESTROYER
THE U.S. NAVY IS GRANTED 'PERMITS' BY NOAA
TO 'TAKE' (= 'KILL') TENS OF MILLIONS OF MARINE MAMMALS
ONE OF THE LARGEST HYDRO-CARBON DEPOSITS IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE...AND SITE OF NUMEROUS MASSIVE MARINE 'DIE-OFFS'
U.S. NAVY 'TRAINING GROUNDS' = ENTIRE OFF-SHORE REGION
THE U.S. NAVY IS THE SINGLE GREATEST
ENEMY OF CETACEANS THAT EXISTS
THE COAST OF CHILE IS HOME TO HUGE POPULATIONS OF CETACEANS
THESE ACTIVITIES CAUSED A MEGA-POD OF DOLPHINS TO FLEE
A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
GULF OF MEXICO ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
NEW ZEALAND IS THE 'NEW TAIJI' NO ONE TALKS ABOUT
SNM POINTS OUT THAT INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN COUNTRIES LIKE VIET NAM HAVE MUCH HIGHER SUCCESS RATES WITH RESCUING STRANDED CETACEANS THAN DO THE HIGH-DOLLAR 'CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS'
THESE ARE JUST A FEW OF THE MAPS SNM HAS ASSEMBLED WHICH
PROVIDE CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE OF THE CONNECTION BETWEEN CETACEAN STRANDING EVENTS/MASS 'DIE-OFFS' and SEISMIC EXPLORATION FOR HYDRO-CARBONS and/or NAVAL/MILITARY OPERATIONS HAPPENING IN THE SAME AREA.
KING ISLAND TAS STRANDING - TORPEDO TESTING
On King Island, Tasmania in November 2012 a several day, multi-species stranding event occurred simultaneously with the testing of a new torpedo in the same basic area. The strandings began within approximately 24 hours of the weapons tests.
http://www.naval-technology.com/news/newsrans-hobart-class-awd-demonstrates-torpedo-launcher-capability
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-04/crews-investigate-mass-whale-dolphin-strandings/4351714
NOTE THAT NAVAL LOW-FREQUENCY SONARS HAVE 'A KILL ZONE THE SIZE OF TEXAS'
http://baltimorechronicle.com/sonar_may02.html
"The source level of this sonar is 240 decibels (equivalent to the
intensity of a Saturn rocket). But, because low frequency underwater
sound can travel hundreds of miles with little loss of power, it will
actually create a 'kill zone' several hundred miles in diameter. NATO
naval exercises using low frequency sonar conducted off Greece in 1996
killed whales that were more than 100 km away. In the final EIS for its
sonar system, the Navy admits that an intensity of 160 decibels (a
lethal level) will be felt several hundred miles away from the source.
This will create a 'Kill Zone' the size of Texas.
The Navy says it wants to deploy this sonar in 80% of the world's oceans."
SEISMIC TESTING USES TECHNOLOGIES IDENTICAL TO LOW-FREQUENCY SONAR
AT ANY MOMENT IN TIME, APPROXIMATELY 100 SEISMIC TESTING VESSELS ARE IN OPERATION GLOBALLY, AND PERHAPS THOUSANDS OF NAVAL VESSELS FROM DOZENS OF NATIONS ALL DEPLOYING LOW-FREQUENCY SONARS.
THE GLOBAL OCEAN IS BEING SATURATED WITH ASTRONOMICAL LEVELS OF SONIC ENERGY THAT IS LETHAL TO ALL MARINE MAMMALS
"SAY NO MORE!"
"Apparently
we are on NOAA's 'watch list as a potential threat
to the safety and
well being of the people who actually work with these animals.' "
'OCEAN DEFENDER, INC' ROUTINELY VIOLATES WHALE APPROACH RESTRICTIONS
"We cited a study about dead carcasses, where controlled release offshore ofdead carcasses only yield to 8% of carcasses actually washing ashore. So what
we see on our shores is a tiny fragment of what is going on. That is why we
believe so strongly that every
live stranded cetacean is a miracle that went through hell to stay alive and
because of that should be given any help imaginable to survive."
NOTE FROM JEFF: It is my honour and privilege to share with you a comprehensive presentation of the work of StrandedNoMore, a coalition of marine biologists working since 2010 to educate the public about the reality of what is happening to whales and dolphins globally, a true 'cetacean holocaust.' Here is not only my first interview with SNM, but also a selection of their major contributions, the most significant of which is an constantly-expanding data-base of correlations between cetacean stranding events and the presence of seismic testing for hydro-carbons and/or naval/military war-games, weapons testing and 'hazardous operations.'
SNM has also created awareness on many related issues, for example, how the U.S. Navy directly or indirectly controls a huge % of all marine biology research; of how the Navy and 'big oil' not only sponsor conferences on 'ocean noise pollution'..at which NO MENTION is made of seismic testing or naval sonar...but also employ vast armies of public relations organizations to 'spin' a full spectrum of disinformation designed to mislead a whale-loving yet scientifically illiterate public and deflect attention from their destructive activities. SNM and I have also discussed the reason why necropsies are NEVER performed on stranded cetaceans who are dead...again the hand of 'big oil' and the Navy at work through their financial control of almost all 'charitable rescue groups.' A valid necropsy would provide irrefutable evidence of what actually killed the cetacean in question, and chances are that almost without exception, dead cetaceans would, if analyzed, show signs of having been killed by high-level acoustic trauma. NOT what 'big oil' and the Navy want the public to hear. Parallel with the 'no necropsy' policy is a very real policy of 'automatic euthanasia' being practiced in many countries, including the Netherlands, the UK, and Australia, where live stranded cetaceans are shot in the head or even have holes drilled in their heads while they are conscious and then exploding them with a stick of dynamite. I honestly don't think that the Nazi exterminators did anything worse than this.
StrandedNoMore does not hesitate to expose the blatantly ineffective (at best) and brutally murderous (more realistic) approach of almost of all 'rescue groups' and 'charitable foundations' who receive lots of money (from whom?) to 'save whales.' For their efforts, they are occasionally attacked by these ignorami and threatened with bogus law-suits for telling the truth. They also confront high-dollar 'eco-tourism' operations who not only exploit the public and the whales but also routinely violate 'proximity' and 'harassment' regulations.
Welcome to reality. This is not the airy-fairy new-age capitalist world of 'let's charge people a lot of money to swim with dolphins and share their telepathic transmissions with them...'
Ultimately, it is US...homo sapiens, 'man, the wise'...not just 'big oil' or 'the navy', even less, 'evil Japanese fishermen or whalers'...who is quite literally waging a full-spectrum war against our planet's most spiritually advanced beings who are not only a 'true extra-terrestrial intelligence' but also 'the ultimate indigenous people.'
StrandedNoMore's new web-site will be up soon, for now you can connect with them on Facebook.
INTERVIEW
1) What
is your back-ground as a scientist and lover of marine life?
The
majority of members of our group have scientific training, MS, PhD.
2) How
did you come to be aware of the problem of cetacean strandings?
We
have been aware of it for years, but only since we started SNM we truly
realized how big of the issue it is. Strandings are a strange topic since
somehow the public was led to believe that it is a “natural” occurrence, hence
not much attention is usually paid. Although the media loves to report on it,
so there is some public interest there (but more likely because it is seen as a
side road show than a true tragedy)
3)
Describe the general mentality of mind-set of the marine biology community...
It
is hard to comment on the entire marine biology community, but when it comes to
marine mammals everybody is just so PC and try to be as uncontroversial as
possible. There are 'well-oiled' topics that guarantee to bring followers and
money; these topics include Taiji, captivity, etc. While they are noble, no
doubt about that, they do not require significant personal sacrifice, such as
for example stop driving and consuming oil or stand on the beach in Florida and
protest missile test of Florida coast, or to form a life chain in your own
country and shield a stranded whale from the blood thirsty vets with euthanasia
drugs or rifles. We often wondered how people from the US, UK, NZ, etc would
travel to Japan to protest, but totally ignore what happens with cetaceans on
their own shores.
Another
issue is that everyone is scrambles for money now. Sadly many are willing to do
a lot for it. For example, we were amazed to see some organizations sprouting
in Africa devoted solely to marine mammals. One would wonder where do they get
money to do so in Africa where every conservation org is struggling? Well, a
little digging revealed that there is a Big Oil connection there where many
people in these orgs have been working as Marine Mammal Observers on seismic
surveys ships (that btw pays VERY well) and also do 'consultancy' for the Big
Oil. The public of course sees nothing of it.
The
conflict of interest is profound and widespread. Organizations blast the Navy
and Big Oil publicly, while working with them privately. Hence it is the reason
why everyone is so PC and focuses on Taiji , captivity, etc, while the truth is
that strandings kill the same number if not more whales and dolphins annually
when you count in those who die at sea or wash ashore already dead. Stranded
whales and dolphins have zero marketing and as a result zero interest
4) How
many researchers actually care about the well-being of marine life as opposed
to keeping their funding happening?
This
was covered above, but there is a small minority that truly cares but also those
who are in it for money, ego gratification, publicity, self promotion etc.
5)
Describe the influence of 'outside sources' with vested interests in marine
biology research, for example, the US Navy and 'big oil.'
This
was also covered above, but in a nutshell the Navy and the Big Oil are the only
reliable sources of income for many organizations and researchers. It is either
done directly by getting grants, or indirectly by either working on contract
with the Navy/Big Oil doing 'consultancy' or working for them (like these people
who work for 6 months as Marine Mammal Observers for the Big Oil) and 'study'
dolphins for another 6 months using the money they made off cooperating with
the Big Oil. The sad thing that it is nearly impossible to figure out without
significant investigation as it is hidden for obvious reasons.
6)
Describe the US Navy as an institution, as you understand it...how big and
powerful is it, how much money do they have, how many tentacles does it
control? From my understanding, the US Navy is the single largest military
organization on the planet. It is the single biggest nuclear entity, operating
hundreds of reactors; it is the single biggest sonar presence in the global
ocean; ONR funds the leading-edge of advanced weapons systems development;
and it is believed to control or exert substantial influence on as much
as 95% of all marine biology research in the world. Comment...
We have been talking about it a
lot, it is actually 50% worldwide and 75% in the US. The best article to read
about this is
“Conflict of interest in research on anthropogenic noise and marine
mammals: Does funding bias conclusions?”
7) I see
the Navy influence on 'research' as two-fold. First, they want to know about
and control EVERY POSSIBLE ASPECT of anything having to do with the ocean and
everyone and everything in it...this is where their REAL research is
directed...towards the weaponization of all things marine. Second, they
fund a vast amount of 'public relations propaganda' generating fake science
designed to make it look like nothing they do is harmful in any way...like the
deaf pseudorca you wrote about, and to give the public the impression that they
are the 'stewards of the ocean.' Comment...
If you
want to know how the Navy operates check the 'nonprofit' organization called
“NATIONAL MARINE MAMMAL FOUNDATION
“
http://nmmf.org/ It is pretty much
self explanatory.
8)
Describe what we actually know about cetacean strandings, and what we don't
know. Strandings have been happening since the days of the ancient Greeks. As
with any aspect of 'reality', it's very complex. What would be some of the
credible reasons or causes of strandings?
To put is simply
strandings could be caused by several reasons, often working together and we
cannot accurately tell these reasons apart on the beach. Live strandings should
be distinguished from dead strandings as they have different underlying causes.
1. Small number
of animals is really ill prior to the stranding, they could have big gashes
from a shark attack, or parasites in brain making them swim in circles. We
believe it is a very small proportion of live strandings.
2. In some
cases we believe stranding is a panic response to stimuli (both mass and single
live strandings). Healthy animals panic, flee and strand. Also refuse to swim
away and restrand if the perceived danger is still present. This could explain
ancient strandings. 2000 years ago beaked whales or common dolphins could flee
orca pod, today they flee Big Oil ship or missiles tests, or submarines with
sonar. The fact that cetaceans have been hunted with sound reinforces this
hypothesis. They die from stress, cardiomyopathy and they drown. The thing is
that they could and should be saved.
3. Some species
are very fragile; when stressed and forced to flee they develop cardiac
condition called cardiomyopathy. It is sadly irreversible once it was set in
motion, It is seen in Zoo animals like small deer, it progresses in exact same
way like in cetaceans when these animals are captured for transport or example.
Fragile cetacean species are kogias, spinners, beaked whales, common dolphin,
striped and others, plus any neurotic animals that could not handle stress
should be handled differently and should be given medication to prevent
cardiomyopathy.
4. Juvenile
baleen whales often strand alive because they are silly pups and have not
learned the ropes yet, do not understand sand bars, etc.
5. We reject the
notion that quakes cause strandings
6. At the same
time there could be some yet to be known factor that cause live strandings too.
9) What
are some of the more obviousy INcredible 'causes' or 'reasons'? 'Mystery
illnesses', for example, or 'baro-trauma' from undersea earth-quakes
See
above
10) Tell
us about this person called Oriana of Ocean Defender and Capt. David Williams
of DeafWhale, as examples of environmental capitalists-cum-kooks?
These
are perfect examples of pseudo-causes that captivate the public because they
tell them what they want to hear. Organizations like Ocean Defender figured
that by giving the public what it wants they can make a decent living. They
post nothing but self-promoting shots and pretty pictures and intentionally
steer away from what Oriana calls 'negativity'. Funny fact, both SNM and Ocean
Defender started in 2010. SNM had 1070 followers on FB, and Oriana got 150,000+
as o this month. This is significant, because we (while being controversial and
argumentative) never phished for donations or self-promotion, never sold
anything, we only cared about stranded whales and dolphins. This showed us that
the public does not care about the reality and does not want to hear about the
reality. It also tells that the average public member goes for 'shiny things'
without real critical thinking. Not that long ago a person asked Oriana how
much money they make and how and on what causes they are being spent, what
results they had. This post was ignored.
DeafWhale,
INC is an example of pseudo-scientific organization that tosses around big
words while having no idea what scientific method and research is.
Another
type of organization we have noticed is the one that uses the plea of whales
and dolphins for personal reasons. While they state that everyone is a
volunteer, the donations are asked for endlessly without real results to show
for. These types of organizations
basically blackmail the public by saying 'see, this dolphin died because we did
not have this and that' They also figured that stranded cetaceans could be a
very good asset in terms of self-promotion, publicity and all these good
things.
11) I
have considered that a syndrome may exist in cetaceans akin to Alzheimers in
which they are still healthy enough to swim around but they are psychologically
compromised by a wide spectrum of negative health influences, including
chemical toxicity affecting their cognition, hearing disruption, not being able
to communicate or have any peace and quiet, being 'watched' or 'studied' or
harassed by 'scientists' or tour operators. Comment...
Perhaps,
although we have not heard of any findings that had seen brains like that.
These animals would probably die at sea without live stranding. It is important
to note that many live stranded animals are young and we rarely (if ever) get
old and senile whales to live strand.
Toxicity
would not cause the live stranding although it has been often used as one of
the reason. We do not believe it. One important thing to consider is that sperm
whales for example naturally have very high mercury levels in them for some
reason, so the mercury toxicity found in sperm whales should be taken with a
grain of salt.
12)
Describe the general mentality or attitude of the public as you have come to
understand it concerning who the cetaceans are and what the real threats to
them actually are
In
all fairness there is a small segment of the population that truly cares for
all right reasons, you know who you are and we thank you for all your support
and effort over these years. The majority of people do not care at all. The
rest….well there is a segment that 'loves' dolphins and cannot handle gory
reality. There is a segment that laser-focused on captivity, Taiji, etc
completely disregarding all other threats. Now, Taiji is a blood bath, and
captivity is bad. But we find it extremely hypocritical to be so vocal about
Taiji while having no problems with massacres in your own backyard. For
example, one person from NZ traveled to Taiji to protest. Meanwhile dozens of
pilot whales and other cetaceans have been killed in NZ that year by NZ DOC and
rescues. What kind of mentality is that? How are NZ pilots different? Does the
stranding make them less of cetaceans? People are hell bent to stop Taiji yet
ignore entirely what happens in their own countries.
Furthermore,
it appears that Taiji, captivity, Sea Shepherd, etc became 'holy grail' topics
and no one dares to voice any 'different' opinion about it. Meanwhile the Gulf
of Mexico is being devoid of marine life by the Big Oil and there are like 3
comments on the website seeking public input about opening even more areas for
oil exploration.
We
believe that similar if not larger number of animals dies because of strandings
and anthropogenic causes. Only a small percentage actually strands. Basically
unlike Taiji, this massacre is invisible. It does not get any promotion either.
So no one cares.
13) Do
you think organizations like NRDC, Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd, or Ocean
Preservation Society (Louis Psihoyos) are making any difference that matters
with respect to 'saving' cetaceans globally...as opposed to taking in vast sums
of money?
People
need to realize that the bigger the organization is the more it has to lose, so
they play safe. We are impressed with NRDC because they do make a difference by
constantly suing the Navy. It is good. The rest…well it would be awesome if these organizations as
well as WDC and American Cetacean Society started to at least count fatalities
from anthropogenic causes and voice their opposition to Navy and Big Oil. For
now it is mainly Taiji, Faroes, captivity etc., the usual stuff that brings
donations and supporters. Can you imagine SS ship blocking Polarcus doing
seismic survey or a Navy vessel? Meanwhile 2 kogias killed in Florida and
countless others are being completely ignored. Basically the same mentality,
ignore your own backyard and talk about Japanese, etc.
14) Can
you comment on this quotation from 'Militarized Oceans' by William A.
Nierenberg, 1968.
"The fundamental reason why the oceans are attractive to military planners
is that, to a first approximation, the submerged weapon is invisible...The only
reliable sensor of ay range is acoustic sonar...even today's crude nuclear
submarine employs a team well-skilled in contending with sonar, and
antisubmarine warfare has become an engineers nightmare because of the need to
exploit to the extreme this one sensor.
In order
to appreciate the future of undersea warfare, it is necessary to understand
some aspects of the current state of the oceanographic sciences and their
development. In no other field of warfare does the environment enter in so
complex a way to fashion and fix the character of the operations. The classical
example is that of biological intervention. In the air and on the ground the
intervention of an animal or plant in military operations is rare and
noteworthy. In the sea, freedom from such interference - by organisms that
reflect sonar pulses, for example - would be extraordinary."
Absolutely
agree
and we’ve mentioned it above. All these things are invisible, even
'euthanasia' of stranded whales is invisible. While we have footage of
Japanese
killing dolphins, we have no footage of NZ DOC shooting pilots in a
head, no
one sees the agony of a whale dying from explosives, or a small kogia
dying
quietly next to her calf, that is up next for execution. What Navy and
Big Oil
do out there is invisible, as there are no 'guardians' or 'defenders' to
travel
there and document it. Sadly people are under impression that since they
do not
see it, it is not happening.
15) You
made the point in a posting from two years ago that when a mass-stranding of
cetaceans occurs, the number of dead of injured that we actually see represents
only a small fraction of the total number who were killed or injured.
Comment...
16) Of
all the stranding events you have observed or become aware of in recent years,
how many of these were associated with seismic/geo-physical exploration
activity and/or military war-games and/or 'hazardous operations' in the same
area? Comment...
More
than anyone realizes.
17) You
are currently claiming that all your work with SNM was useless and had no
effect, but I counter that the battle is not yet over. I have been working on
making the connection between DRIVING and supporting 'big oil' and the Navy who
in reality works for 'big oil.' Do you think it's impossible that people are
going to make this connection and act on it?
StrandedNoMore
has been in existence for 3 years and we came to very sad realizations
unfortunately.
1.
The majority of the public simply does not care
2.
A small minority that does care is too small to make a significant difference.
3.
Realistically we cannot stop the Navy or the Big Oil. We can hamper them
slightly, we can huff and puff on FB, share posts, write about how horrible it
is, etc. but it does not save one dolphin or whale.
4.
The only thing we can do is to achieve 100% success of rescuing stranded alive
cetaceans. For now statistics worldwide would be like 20% or so.
5.
In
order to do that the public needs to give hell to govt. organizations
like
NOAA, FWS, DOC, etc and rescues like Riverhead, ORRCA, Project Jonah,
BDMLR,
IWDG, etc. This is the only way. But the public does not want
controversy, they
want to play nice, they do not want to criticize 'poor rescues'. It
would be
awesome to see a live chain shielding stranded pilots or kogias and
preventing 'rescues' from euthanizing them, sadly we do not see it
happening in the near
or far future.
6.
It is easier to blast Japanese than to stop driving, stop using oil, how do you
get to work then, right? Criticizing Japanese or Faroes does not require
significant personal sacrifice, such as for example stop driving and consuming
oil or stand on the beach in Florida and protest missile test off Florida
coast.
18) The
global fishing industry is also a MAJOR threat to cetaceans, not only from
drift and gill-nets but also from the astronomical amount of sonars that THEY
use. If we all stopped eating FISH and became vegetarians, this would also be a
huge step towards protecting cetaceans and our own health as well...but again,
do you think this is another 'impossible' possibility?
Again,
this goes along the lines with personal sacrifice we talked above…
20) A pattern
seemed to emerge of unnecessary 'euthanasia' of stranded cetaceans,
particularly here in New Zealand. These 'executions' seem to take place
immediately without even the meagerest attempts of rescue, relocation or
assistance to the stranded cetacean. You posted a link to an article from the
Royal Society about the 'necessity' of instantly 'euthanising' all stranded
cetaceans. In my mind, this 'imperative' masks an agenda of attempting
to cover up the possibility of anyone discovering the REAL causes of the
strandings, that is, discovering internal organ damage, hemoragghing or damage
to auditory system, etc, evidence of injury from high-powered sonar or seismic
blasts. Even here in NZ a few months ago marine biologist Liz Slooten expressed
'concern' that a pygmy sperm whale that stranded on a north island beach...IN
THE VICINITY OF MASSIVE SEISMIC TESTING...was immediately 'euthanized' and the
body disposed of before any necropsy could be performed. Comment...
Yes,
this is a big issue. We have seen over and over again that euthanasia decisions
are made rather quickly and lightly. It happens as we have data that even huge
sperm whales can last up to 92 hrs waiting for rescue if cooled and cared for
properly. One of the most overused excuses is a muscle damage, but we have
stumbled upon the article recently where some new exercise craze caused muscle
damage in one man and consecutive kidney failure, basically the same thing they
say that would kill stranded whales and dolphins (we actually wrote a blog post
about myoglobin/muscle damage that only like 20 people read over 3 years).
Anyway, that man was rushed to hospital and was released 3 days after as they
treated him. So what does it tell you? We can treat this condition in humans.
We have medication. Why no one tries to use it on stranded cetaceans is beyond
us.
Second
thing is that necropsies are rarely done, especially in NZ where the only thing
is done is a small tissue sample that is useless in determining cause of
strandings. It is a nice set up since for all we know tons of strandings could
have been caused by humans but we will never know about it.
Even
when they do a necropsy, to get a copy of it is like to get a super CIA file,
nearly impossible. Why so secretive?
21) The
critically endangered Maui's dolphin here in NZ numbers only 55. Fishing...
industrial and recreational... is alleged to be responsible for their demise,
yet the souther zone of their remaining habitat is in the north Taranaki
basin, NZ's greatest concentration of hydro-carbon extraction and exploration.
But these threats are hardly even mentioned. At a global conference a couple
months ago, New Zealand was the ONLY COUNTRY to vote against any measures to
protect the Maui's dolphins...is this insane or what? Can you comment on
the horror and sadness of this scenario, as the people of a supposedly
'progressive', not to mention '100% clean and green' country sit idly by while
an entire SPECIES of beautiful dolphins goes extinct AND the government VOTES
AGAINST DOING ANYTHING TO PROTECT THEM?
Is there
ANY hope for 'humanity' as this point?
Sadly
it is seen everywhere, same in the US, the Gulf of Mexico is choking, the
Indian River Lagoon is seeing massive die off of everything alive. We are
positive that the Navy and Big Oil will also get their pending permits and will
start exercises, oil search in the future. These forces are too powerful, the
economic interests are too strong.
AN INTERVIEW DONE BY SNM TWO YEARS AGO:
How Stranding Field Truly operates (interview with an anonymous insider)
We
were lucky enough to be contacted by a person who obviously wanted to
stay anonymous because this individual has been and still is very active
in the stranding field. We were able to ask some questions and thought
that our readers will be interested too. The below Q & A is about US
stranding response, but we agreed to talk again in the future about
more issues as well as other countries and other topics such as Navy,
oil/gas industry, current research and so on. Apologies for awkward
wordings in some places, we did not record anything obviously and were
just taking notes as our conversation was going on.
Q.
For the average volunteer or a member of the public everything in
regard to strandings seems perfectly normal and reasonable. Why is it
so?
A. It has been designed this way.
Long time ago people figured the less info they make public the better
they will be able to pacify the public and volunteers. What you do not
know cannon enrage you, right? The public and volunteers are given the
absolute bare minimum of the info, and usually they get only one side of
the story with no alternatives or alternative ways of doing things.
They are told, for example, “we are going to euthanize because we think
it is appropriate” but there is no one to say “wait a minute, why don’t
we try this and that or contact someone else for another opinion”.
Q. It actually ties nicely to our next question. Who and on what basis okays euthanasia?
A. You
have to understand one thing. NMFS/NOAA is one huge, bureaucratic
organization that is constantly under fire from all sides. One day
fishermen complain about fishing restrictions, and the next day there
are complains about issues with recreational sharks fishing, and it goes
on and on. They are overwhelmed most of the time. They do oversee
strandings but they also happily delegate most of the decisions and
actions to NGOs who deal with stranded cetaceans firsthand. In other
words if the rescue says we are going euthanize NMFS/NOAA are not going
to fight them on that decision. In fact, their symbiotic relationships
are quite successful. They got each other’s back most of the time,
because if the public gets outraged (as it happens from time to time)
the rescue calls on NMFS/NOAA and they pacify the public by saying it
was their decision. Just like in that case of EH humpback whale your
organization has criticized. When it became clear that the public is
uneasy about all that, NMFS/NOAA stepped in as they usually do.
The
most interesting issue is veterinarians. Stranding NGO’s are required
to be associated with some sort of veterinarians, but often these people
do not have enough experience with wild cetaceans or work for industry,
just like Sea World vets during the last stranding in Key Largo. And
honestly how could they? They see one beaked whale in a beach a year and
pilot whales are hard to come by too. There are formal requirements for
veterinarians, but you wil be fine if you only have been tending
bottlenose dolphins most of the time. Many NGOs do not have vets on
staff and just call on outside vets when stranding occurs. What it all
means, is that most of the time attending vets do not have much
experience with wild cetaceans, especially the offshore ones. They
simply do not know what to do with them because the majority of those
vets were not involved in many successful rescues and rehabilitation. It
all comes to this. The whales or dolphins strand, if alive then the
responding NGO will call on their vet (most likely from outside as they
do not have money to keep one on staff all the time). The vet responds,
if the animal is not chirp and well, it will be euthanized, “to release
suffering”. It is very uncommon to contact anyone from outside for
another opinion. Sometimes it can be taken to rehab, but it does not
mean that euthanasia option is not on the table anymore.Then the
decision is passed along to NMFS/NOAA that will not fight it either as
they are overwhelmed with many other issues. And this is how it happens.
Q.
We are amazed how the high mortalities and suffering of stranded whales
and dolphins does not get attention of any cetacean welfare
organizations or animal rights groups in general. Why do you think it
happens?
A. Because very little
information is released to the public. They always get one side of the
story, because NGOs/NMFS/NOAA carefully prepare all press releases and
decide what is going to be released and what will not be released. I’ve
mentioned it before, it is unheard of to seek another opinion or
alternative, so it is done as it has always been done, some info is
released, the public is pacified by “experts”, volunteers have their
“debriefing” which in my opinion is nothing else but brainwash and
everybody part their ways happy and content.
Q.
You mentioned that very little information is released to the public. We
have been also talking about it a lot, especially the necropsy reports.
Why would necropsy reports be so hard to get?
A. It
is a big problem, I agree. The system was set up decades ago when the
US Stranding Response was in its infancy. However, the decision not to
make everything in regard to strandings public came a bit later. There
were numerous mass strandings in 80s (if I remember correctly) that were
sort of tied to the Navy, as a result it was decided back then to keep
most of it away from the public domain. Now it is even more complicated
because there are law suits, many more animal rights groups, etc. Today
the goal is to release as little as possible and to make it very hard to
obtain to get the full picture. Everybody likes this type of set up
because it takes away responsibility, accountability and any headache
in general because it is impossible to dispute any euthanasia or other
actions that were not necessary or even harmful for stranded animals.
Q. The last question. What do you think can be done to change it all?
A. Only
the public can change it. The public needs to demand the full
disclosure of all data/information about strandings. Everything should
be in a public domain in an easily accessible format. The public
actually has much more power than people realize they do. NMFS/NOAA are
government entities supported by the taxpayers’ money, and taxpayers
have a big say in all that. There is absolutely no reason to keep any
strandings data away from the public. NGOs are also public nonprofits
that rely on the public for donations, volunteering and so on. In my
opinion, the full disclosure of data/info about strandings is a big
first step.
Thank you very much! To be continued....
Strandings, Navy, and Oil/Gas Industry (interview with anonymous insider): Part 2
Finally
we had more time to talk and ask more questions in regard to
strandings, the Navy and Oil and Gas Industry. Just to remind our
friends, we have been contacted by a person who is very well connected
in Marine Mammal field and who also supports our mission. This
individual agreed to answer our questions but wished to remain
anonymous.
Q. Thank you very much for agreeing to
answer more questions. In this part we would like to discuss the Navy
and Oil/Gas industry and strandings. Our first question is what is the
real influence of the Navy over stranding field and MM scientific field
in general?
A. The short answer
would be the Navy's influence on MM science field is enormous. They fund
the majority of research in the areas of their interest, period. And
because funding is hard to get these days, many researchers and
Universities rely heavily on this money. Because the Navy funds only
what they are interested in, these areas get the most funding. And
clearly stranding field is not of much interest to the Navy; in fact
they probably want to be a mess for as long as possible. In recent years
along with traditional research done by universities, numerous
"consulting" groups and companies popped up that are well connected to
the Navy and NMFS/NOAA. They also usually get some funding to
investigate what Navy wants them to investigate. The saddest thing about
this all, is the fact that there are only few researchers out there who
can be truly considered independent of this influence. If you take a
look at the past 10-20 years of research in the area of the interest to
the Navy, you will find probably bare minimum of studies that were done
without Navy involvement in one way or the other. The situation is dire,
because we do not get the whole picture and we have minimal independent
research. Today when getting funding is more difficult than ever we are
left with a handful people doing research and the majority of them are
funded by the Navy. Sadly, I do not see it changing in the near future
unless we can manage to set up an international fund that could be the
alternative way of funding independent research in these hot topic
areas.
As for Navy's involvement in stranding field it is
minimal, because clearly they could care less about strandings and just
do not want to be connected in any way to any events. They do not fund
stranding research, in fact apart from Prescott grant that funds
rescues, very little goes to the actual research, especially to the
causes of mass strandings and to fund the search for the evidence of
sonar induced trauma.
Q. What do you personally think about the Navy’s sonar influence on strandings?
A. I
think that numerous strandings that are caused by the Navy's sonar are
never connected to them. The whole setup is in their favor. First they
do not tell anyone where, when and what they do. There are of course
highly publicized events such as Rimpac for example, but they do much
more than that. For example very often it is just one vessel firing
sonar. So if a pygmy sperm whale or two strand after, nobody would know.
The way how strandings are investigated does not help either. Today,
nobody in the US specifically searches for sonar induced trauma. First
you need to know what to search for and next you should be willing to do
it. And it is just simply not happening. What we have here is a perfect
storm, because on one hand the Navy is not very forthcoming with info
about their activities and on the other hand the set up of the stranding
field allows it to slide under investigated. I personally think we are
greatly underestimating the mortalities.
Q. What is the role of Oil and Gas Industry in strandings?
A. The
official view is none. There have been only anecdotal evidence and
nobody actually did a study on this topic. The airguns they use are
extremely powerful and unlike sonar, they are firing day and night,
practically nonstop. Yes, they have MMO (or infamous marine mammal
observers) the same way as the Navy does, but it is pretty much
worthless and only needed to comply with requirements. Just like the
Navy, the industry does not disclose where, when and what they are doing
because it is considered their commercial know-how. Because of that if
some cetacean strands somewhere, we will never know because we have no
idea what they have been doing.
I would like to say that
both the Navy and the industry have everything working in their favor.
They are not required to disclose what they do, and without this data
there is no credible way to link their activities to strandings. Because
they also fund the research they can and do say, see we did this and
that study and we found no smoking gun, therefore there is no
significant relationship and we can proceed with whatever we need to
do.
Q. What in your opinion can be done to change this dismal situation?
A. In
my opinion, the most important step is to create an independent entity
that can fund research in these hot topic areas. We have been getting
one point of view for too long; it is time to change it. Next, we need
to establish one unifying protocol not just in the US but also worldwide
where each live stranding should be investigated for sonar/airgun
induced trauma. And if the rescue chooses not to do so, they would need
to justify this type of decision. Finally, just as we discussed in our
first interview, transparency should be the new standard for the
stranding field. Everything should be out in the open for everyone to
see.
UNBELIEVABLE COMMENTS FROM MARINE BIOLOGISTS AT AN OCEAN NOISE CONFERENCE IN 2008
http://csiwhalesalive.org/newsletters/csi98306.html
"Drs. Chris Clark and Peter Tyack presented initial results
at this meeting from their LFA SRP, designed to assess the characteristics
of human sound in the ocean that might produce a 'significant
impact' on whales. Their preliminary data suggest that any
observed impacts were not biologically significant, and while
their analysis was incomplete, they expressed relief that their
initial concerns seemed alleviated. Dr. Roger Payne argued further
that preconceptions about human acoustical impacts might be excessive.
In his view we must be willing to accept that perhaps whales are
capable of dealing * with human noise, whether from shipping, seismic
surveys, or the LFA. The ocean was a noisy place long before humans
added to the din. In this context the LFA is just one more possible
irritant, but not a serious threat to the survival of populations."
* The whales' way of 'dealing' with our acoustic warfare attack is to become deaf then to die
FROM A CONVERSATION WITH SNM LAST YEAR:
[JEFF] "Hey, I don't think that the NRDC ever
accomplishes much in actuality...they're ALWAYS asking for money so that
they can 'TELL' all these 'big oil' and navy people to STOP DOING THOSE
BAD THINGS...but they never stop and NRDC continually asks for more
money to tell them to stop. THEY ARE NOT STOPPING ANYTHING. We've got
to go to the next level and realize that ANYONE who lives by driving a
car is the problem...WE have the ability to drastically reduce our
addiction to hyrdo-carbons and petrochemicals...I see this awareness as
THE biggest thing to work on. What do you reckon? cheers jeff"
[SNM] "Yes,
sadly they do not accomplish much, they had few successful law suits
though, but it is so hard to actually do anything because the Navy and
NMFS are in the same boat, just like you said. I talked once with NRDC's
lawyer, they seem to think that the only way they can achieve something
is through legal means by suing the sh!t out of everything.
NOTE FROM JEFF: It seems obvious to me that all the hullabaloo with Sea Shepherd and
the 'clearly evil Japanese whalers' is no more than 'reality tv' on a
large scale, scripted by the producers of 'Whale Wars', sponsored by Animal Planet and Discovery Communications, who also hosts the Military Channel,
and designed to distract the public from what is really going on with
real threats to marine life globally. These 'made-for-tv-dramas' make
lots of money for all parties involved, but not only fail to 'save the
whales' but add a tremendous amount of anthropogenic noise and intrusion
into the southern ocean. Cetacean strandings and mass die-offs of
marine life are increasing exponentially all around the world,
indisputably linked to military-industrial activity, yet Sea Shepherd
and other 'environmental capitalist' organizations NEVER even mention
these real global threats. The really scary part is that the beings who
we discover on the beaches or floating in the water represent only a
tiny fraction of the total number who were killed...possibly less than
10%. Last year around this time a MAJOR die-off of cetaceans occurred in
this exact same area off the northwest coast of Peru. This area is
home to one of the largest off-shore hydrocarbon deposits on the planet;
consequently a massive amount of off-shore geophysical exploration is
going on involving seismic testing technologies as well as military
operations. Last year a joint exercise involving surface vessels and
submarines was going on between the US and Peruvian navies when the
mass-stranding/die-off occurred. This pattern of events has just
occurred off the west coast of the UK and is going to be happening more
and more in the territorial waters of Australia and New Zealand as
military-industrial ecological war-machines like Anadarko Petroleum
expand their operations in the middle of some of the world's densest
populations of cetaceans. This is EXTREMELY BAD KARMA for all entities
pretending to be 'human beings.'
"LIVE SIMPLY SO THAT OTHERS MAY SIMPLY LIVE."
JEFF PHILLIPS
GREAT BARRIER ISLAND
7 SEPTEMBER 2013
MOTHERSHIP EARTH
