Naval sonar causes the bends in marine mammals

[Guest guest]

Sonar from navy ships appears to be giving whales and other marine

mammals the bends, that infamous bane of scuba divers and other

deep-sea adventurers, according to a report published in the latest

edition of the journal Nature. Researchers from England and Spain

found air bubbles in tissues and blood vessels of whales that died in

the Canary Islands shortly after a naval exercise in 2002; such

bubbles are a sign of the bends, also known as decompression

sickness. The researchers offered two hypotheses for how sonar

induces the bends: Either it could cause the animals to panic and

rise to the surface too quickly (the cause of the bends in humans),

or it could directly cause bubble formation on gas nuclei in whale

tissues. The findings could have major implications for the U.S.

Navy's ongoing efforts to gain approval for widespread use of very

loud, low-frequency sonar, which is in the auditory range of some of

the world's largest and most endangered whales.

 

straight to the source: Washington Post, Marc Kaufman, 09 Oct 2003

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