[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Please forward this message on. Whale Alert
Aloha Multihull Sailors and friends,
My name Is Gary Hoover, I have been a "lurker" on this list for some
time. I live on the island of Hawaii(Big Island) and have Captained and
managed Large(50 ft +)catamarans along this coast for the past ten
years. Those of you familiar with the Ronin Project
http://www.island.net/~duff/
also know that I am closely involved with that project as well.
My purpose in writting to you now, is to bring everyone up to speed on
the Biggest threat to the whale population since commerical whaling
ended! I'd like to give a personal insight into the fight the commerical
catamaran operators are waging here on the island, daily,to stop this
menace.
If you read the article which Mr. Fish brought your attention to,
http://www.abcnews.com/sections/science/Dailynews/whales0305.html
you will have an idea of the NAVY's Low Frequency Active Sonar,and the
tests which are being conducted here NOW, in the waters surrounding this
island. As I write this, I can see the NAVY research vessel,R/V Cory
Chouest, just offshore.
As many of you are aware, the waters around this and other Hawaii
islands are the primary winter calving and mating areas for the North
Pacific Humpback whales. The federal goverment has worked with the State
of Hawaii for years in establishing a series of National Marine
Sanctuaries for the protection and preservation of these " Gentle Giants
", here in the Hawaiian waters. The criteria for the boundaries of these
areas was, among other things, the high levels of cow,calf and matting
activities, which take place in these areas. A large section of the near
shore waters of this island,out to the 100 fathom line, has been
designated as such an area. VERY UNFORTUNATLY, for the innocent, un-
suspecting Humpback whales, the boundries around this area is where the
NAVY has targeted to perform their so called "research". Also each
evening near sunset they move into the sanctuary waters, sometimes
moving within a mile of shore, where they remain until about mid-morning
of the next day, or until one of the fleet of local protest vessels gets
on their tail.
This has all is being permitted and approved by by the same goverment
which has sworn to protect this Endangered Specices, all in the name of
"National Security"! Have you ever heard that line before? Gives you a
warm fuzzy feeling doesn't it!!! How dangerous is a little noise in the
ocean you say, well, my learning curve on the subject has been steep,
see:
www.physics.helsinki.fi/whale/
, but the NAVY's permit, issued by
the National Marine Fisheries, Office of PROTECTED RESOURCES, allows for
"INCIDENTIAL KILLS", by the NAVY, in the course of this project.
However, NMFS directors and biologists, are unable to define
what"INCIDENTAL KILL" means, one DEAD whale, ten, one hundred, you see
the problem. The NAVY researchers are also not identifing the specific
whales they are blasting with this sound wave, so there can be no follow
up studies on the effects etc. As these whales can live without food for
12 to 18 months, when it washes ashore in ALASKA next year, the
reseachers hands will be "CLEAN", ie "died of unknown causes". As one
noted whale researcher stated so well, "A DEAF whale is a DEAD whale,
its just a matter of Time!"
As sailors, I would appreciate your assistance in raising the flag to
the general public, to ask some serious questions and get some proper
answers before "WE The PEOPLE" allow this program to continue. Besides,
I thought most of those dangerous Russian Submarines were tied up at the
various Russian Naval bases, polluting their harbors,due to various
"Operational Difficulties" so what's with the " National Security" line
anyway ?
If there are some of you out there with special knowledge in underwater
or bio acoustics,could you share with us the possible reprocussions of
235 to 250 decibles, in a pure sine wave or tone, blasting through the
oceans of the world. Thanks for your interest, gang
Fair winds and QUITE seas to you all!
Captain Gary Hoover
S/V Noa Noa
Big Island of Hawaii