The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) is warning that the move by Exercise Joint Warrion into the approaches to the Moray Firth threatens a pod of bottlenose dolphins.
The Society says that the noise from the warships sonar will harm the dolphins. There is a body of scientific opinion subscribing to this theory, pointing to the phenomenon of orcas beaching at times when naval vessels including submarines have been on exercise or on passage in the area in question.
The Ministry of Defence told the BBC that it takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously. A spokesman for the Royal Navy said ships did not set out to harm marine life and sonar was used carefully.
This last remark is interesting – apart from the fatuity of the first part. (No one ever said they did it on purpose – just that they didn’t care.) The remark is interesting because it is effectively an admission that the MoD is aware that sonar does indeed harm orcas.
According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Trust Society (WDCS), this is the biannual Exercise Joint Warrior’s first time to include the Moray Firth in the exercise area.
This area is renowned for tis population of bottlenose dolphins and is a major visitor attraction for that reason.
WDCS’s Noise Campaign Manager, Sarah Dolman, makes the point that new generation sonar is a source of very loud noise for marine life, saying: ‘We are extremely concerned that the dolphins in the Moray Firth will not be adequately protected from this by the mitigation measures proposed’.
‘Exercise Joint Warrior is now expanding into the region of the bottlenose dolphin’s habitat and their European designated sanctuary, the special area of conservation’.
The record is not encouraging. Boys toys used at this level of intensity cannot but cause some degree of trouble at the very least.
A few years ago a village on the shores of Loch Eriboll west of Cape Wrath was hit with live shells fired from ships at sea during the exercise. Last year, live firing at Cape Wrath was also held responsible for a heath fire. Also last year, mine clearance training in the Minch was thought at the time to be an earthquake measuring 3.4 on the Richter scale and felt as far inland as Drumnadrochit on Loch Ness. It took the MoD something like a week to own up.
Don’t hold your breath for the orcas.
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In these uncertain times of conflict it is important for our armed forces to train adequately; I’ve served in the Royal Marines and have acknowledged this first hand. However Scotland has a massive sea area and huge amounts of the Scottish coast are suitable for marine exercises.
Naval sonar far exceeds normal recreational or commercial sonar and is known to be damaging to cetaceans, it can permanently damage the hearing bones in whales, dolphins, and porpoise, and this has been thought to be linked with standings’.
I’ve experienced the live bombing at Cape Wrath, whilst answering a “Pan-Pan” emergency call on the VHF maritime radio; with HM Coastguard approval I went into the firing range to assist a boat in trouble: numerous jets flew over head, so close that I could see the pilots looking down at me. I was in the water trying to free tangled ropes when the bombs went off, very scary indeed: I knew what was about to happen, cetaceans and seals alike are sentient animals, they must think that their World is about to end. Incidentally it was an RAF crew that was in trouble.
I believe that to conduct a naval exercise in and/or close to an area designated as a Special Area of Conservation for dolphins is negligent. The comment made by the MOD that it takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously, is paramount to the SNP saying that they want to protect Scotland’s marine environment:
If the government did actually want to protect the marine environment, the current Marine (Scotland) Bill would have facilities for areas of, “No-Take” and “No Harassment”; and that would include harmful naval sonar. If the MOD were serious about their environmental responsibilities they would conduct their exercises away from known cetacean “hotspots”!
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