Dear Kitty. Some blog

From the Daily Mail in England (a Conservative paper, so don’t start talking about “liberal bias”, etc.):

Launch of new military sonar ‘threatens Britain’s last wild dolphins’

By David Derbyshire

Last updated at 7:20 PM on 12th October 2009

The latest generation of military sonar is putting Britain’s wild dolphins in danger, wildlife campaigners warned today.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society says naval exercises due to start tomorrow will threaten the North Sea’s last remaining population of bottlenose dolphins.

The warning comes after an unusually high number of deep sea whales have been stranded or spotted in shallow waters around the coast.

Experts fear whales and dolphins are being deafened by the noise from shipping, drilling, military sonar and underwater sonic alarms designed to keep seals from fish farms.

The NATO exercise Joint Warrior involves 20 warships, 4 submarines and 40 aircraft from nine countries in the Moray Firth, Scotland, and lasts for two weeks.

Sarah Dolman, campaigner from the WDCS, said: ‘The exercise will use new generation powerful sonar, which is a very loud noise source and we are extremely concerned that the dolphins in the Moray Firth will not be adequately protected from this by the mitigation measures proposed.

‘The recent deaths of common dolphins, such as the strandings that followed a military exercise off the Cornish coast last year, illustrate how delicate an issue this is and how vulnerable dolphins may be.

‘Society wouldn’t condone exposing people to the equivalent, extreme levels of noise so why should it be acceptable to risk the health of vulnerable dolphins in such a way?’

She accused the Government’s wildlife agencies of failing to protect dolphins and marine life in the area.

Around 130 bottlenose dolphins live in the Moray Firth. Another colony is found in Cardigan Bay, Wales, while small numbers live in the Hebrides.

The creatures are stocky and around nine foot long. They are social animals, living in family groups of between six and 25 dolphins.

The WDCS says the sonar and engine noise from ships and submarines interferes with the natural sonar used by dolphins to hunt fish and communicate.

Fears over the impact of noise on marine life were raised at the weekend when another northern bottlenose whale was washed up dead on beach in Prestatyn, North Wales.

It was the 10th northern bottlenose whale to find itself in shallow coastal waters this year.

Northern bottlenose whales die in Scotland and Wales: here.

Major expansion of military exercise threatens Scotland’s only ‘protected’ dolphin population: here.

Royal Navy listens to protests and avoids Moray Firth dolphins, here.