Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News
  • Published:

Whale deaths caused by US Navy's sonar

Nature volume 415, page 106 (2002) Cite this article

View saved research

Sixteen beaked and minke whales were found stranded on beaches in the Bahamas shortly after US Navy ships using the high-intensity sonar had passed by. Six are known to have died, and the rest were pushed back into the sea. But a fall in sightings of beaked whales has led researchers working in the area to believe that many more may have died. Autopsies on the animals revealed bleeding around the whales' inner ears and in one instance in the brain.

The Navy and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) responded to the incident by launching a series of investigations. An interim synopsis of the reports, released on 20 December 2001, concludes that the bleeding was caused by sound waves produced by the high-intensity sonar.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Subjects

Authors
  1. Mark Schrope
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schrope, M. Whale deaths caused by US Navy's sonar. Nature 415, 106 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/415106a

Download citation

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/415106a

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing