Fears submarine sonar led to multiple deaths of whales

By Sean O’Riordan

The Department of Foreign Affairs is contacting British authorities after fears were raised that submarines using sonar may have caused the deaths of a record number of Cuvier’s beaked whales off the Irish coast.

Nuclear submarines belonging to Britain, the US, and Russia regularly pass through the Irish Sea and off our Atlantic coast and have carried out exercises in international waters off Ireland. Warships from these countries also use sonar to detect the movements of submarines. The Irish Naval Service does not use sonar.

Mass strandings of Cuvier’s beaked whales have coincided with naval exercises off Greece, the Canaries, and the Bahamas.

The move by the Department of Foreign Affairs has been welcomed by the Irish Whale & Dolphin Group (IWDG) which lobbied for an inquiry.

Last month, IWDG recorded 16 Cuvier’s beaked whales washing up dead on the Irish coast and more continue to wash ashore. A further 13 were washed up in Scotland and two in Iceland.

Previous studies have suggested that only a small number of dead whales get washed ashore and recorded, so the number killed in this latest incident may be significantly higher.

IWDG strandings co-ordinator Mick O’Connell said he welcomed Tánaiste Simon Coveney’s request for information from the British authorities, which also includes input from the National Parks & Wildlife Service.

The number of strandings are the biggest by far and the worst [in a short space of time] that we have come across since records began,” Mr O’Connell said.

“They [the carcasses] are still coming into shore.”

He said similar strandings had happened in the waters of other countries which coincided with naval exercises and the extensive use of sonar, which confuses the marine mammals.