On March 13th, 2017, ‘Dynamic Manta’, a large-scale NATO manoeuvre, started in the Mediterranean. At the same time, a five-meter Cuvier’s beaked whale stranded in Morocco. The cause of the stranding has not been yet officially determined. However, OceanCare points to the fact that in recent years several strandings of this particular whale species coincided with navy manoeuvres.
Sonar systems for submarine detection use extremely intensive low or mid frequency sonic waves which have a huge reach and impact. “It wouldn’t surprise anyone if this whale stranding, too, had been caused by such sonar systems”, says OceanCare president Sigrid Lüber.
