Michael Jasny’s Blog

Update on Greek strandings: More whales

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Posted April 7, 2014 in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

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Last week, I wrote about a mass stranding of beaked whales off Crete while the Greek, U.S., and Israeli navies ran exercises offshore – the latest in a long line of whale strandings associated with naval training. At the time somewhere between five and eight whales were known to have beached along 20.6 kilometers of coastline west of Ierapetra.

Above is a picture of one of those stranded whales, bleeding on the tidal rocks.
Now Dr. Alexandros Frantzis, Scientific Director of the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute, reports that at least three whales stranded individually some 48 kilometers further west. As Alexandros observes, the distances involved suggest that impacts occurred over a large area of ocean.
It is unknown how many whales died at sea.

On Friday, NRDC sent a letter to the administration, warning of the Navy’s failure to conduct an environmental review of this dangerous training event and of its almost certain violation of U.S. law.
To demand that the Navy protect whales during training, please go here. You can also call NOAA (202-482-3436) – the agency that is supposed to regulate the Navy – and ask that they enforce our marine mammal laws.