Sonar vs. Whale Migration
Imagine being in Baja California lying on the beach and out along the horizon you watch the first gray whale break surface and fling himself into the air. I personally have seen this and it is a life changing experience. A whale of that size can truly take your breath away. Whales migrate over 6000 miles in the winter each year just to mate in the warmer waters of the tropics. Although it is amazing to watch them arrive the trip for them is not easy. Whales rely on the hearing immensely and they use sounds to find food, friends, their mate and even find their way around throughout their life. The fact of the matter is that manmade sounds are destroying these migrating whales hearing thus throwing them off course. The use of sonar (Sound Navigation And Ranging) in military boats, submarines and other boats shouldn’t be allowed during migration times in order to save whales in any ocean and keep them on course as they migrate.
Sonar is being used in boats and submarines in order for them to navigate through any ocean. The use of sonar benefits submarines because the sound waves produced from the sonar sweep across the ocean floor revealing obstructive objects in the path and sends this information back to the submarine. Some systems operate at more than 235 decibels, producing sound waves that can travel across tens or even hundreds of miles of ocean (Lethal Sounds). This shows us how powerful these sound waves can be. The sonar sound is only beneficial to humans and marine mammals such as whales are taking the damage. The sounds produced can blow out their hearing and throw them off course while migrating just because they are trying to get away from this deathly noise.
The sound waves are topping off ...
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...The use of sonar directly impacted the melon-headed whale and indirectly hurt the whale industry because the use of sonar killed 100s of melon-headed whales that could’ve been seen on an average whale-watching trip.
Although whale watching is spectacular to watch lets go more in-depth with the affects sonar has on the environment. Sound Navigation and Ranging has a warrant out for whales and has accounted for more than
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“Whales provide us with the food for our bodies, bones for our tools and implements and spirits for our souls.” “We haven’t hunted the whale for 70 years but have hunted them in our hearts and in our minds.” “Whales are a central focus of our culture today as they have been from the beginning of time.”
Image sitting on the beach one July morning. The sun is beaming down and decide to go for a swim. As you approach the water, you see a whale unusually close. You begin to get nervous as it continues to approach the shore. However, you aren’t worried because you know that they are confined to the sea. As the whale comes near you can see it clearly. Just as you think that it will turn around, the whale walks out of the ocean!
Decompression sickness is unusual in diving mammals, but may occur under specific circumstances, including an uncharacteristically rapid ascent to the surface. Rapid ascents such as these may be the result of predation, stress, or even due to sonar signals from sources such as military operations. Marine mammals such as beaked whales have been found stranded on coasts with gas bubble associated lesions on vessels and in vital organs. This is thought to be the result of intense sound that may destabilize the gas nuclei, leading to nitrogen bubble growth in tissues that have been supersaturated during a dive (Jepson et al., 2003). Decompression sickness due to sonar from naval and military operations seems to arise from repetitive shallow dives instead of long, deep dives, facilitating higher tissue supersaturation levels (Tyack et al., 2006).
The Makah’s seemingly domestic issue of whaling has and is taking on a larger international problem. The United States plays a large part in policing the hunting of whales, one of the most recent examples being the U.S.’s ...
A killer whale doesn’t have very many enemies. One of a killer whale's biggest enemies is the human species. Humans have been hunting killer whales since the 12th century; whalers around the world have killed thousands of killer whales. Other threats to killer whales are toxic wastes, oil spills, and garbage in the oceans. Oil spills are extremely dangerous because not only do they damage killer whales, but also they will hurt any thing else in the oceans. Garbage kills ocean life worldwide every year. Currently the threats are
The origin of modern day whales, a mystery that has puzzled paleontologists for years, may have just been solved with the discovery of an ankle bone. This discovery might sound simple and unimportant, but the bones of these ancient animals hold many unanswered questions and provide solid proof of origin and behavior. The relationship between whales and other animals has proven to be difficult because whales are warm-blooded, like humans, yet they live in the sea. The fact that they are warm-blooded suggests that they are related to some type of land animal. However, the questions of exactly which animal, and how whales evolved from land to water, have remained unanswered until now.
Modern advancements have aided our generation and will help many to come. They brighten our rooms, power our cars, and cure our diseases. They seem to be revolutionary and make us wonder how we ever managed to live without them, but are modern advancements actually that good? There is an expression, to take the bad with the good, but what if the bad out weighs the good? Sonar is imperative to navigation, location, and observation, but it also is a danger to marine life, more specifically whales. It can confuse, injure or even kill whales, its unsafe to be using these types of devices. This is an issue because whales play a vital role in the food web and affect an estimated 5,000-12,000 different species (NBC News). Though whale injuries are quite horrific we do need sonar for research and new modern developments. This proves to be an issue over the controversy of whether or not sonars are acceptable to be used.
After watching several documentaries on how poorly killer whales are treated in captivity, it drew me into researching more information on the treatment of Killer whales that are kept in captivity. I found several scientific journals, and articles on wild life facts of killer whales and I found published books on the treatment of killer whales in captivity. The information I found includes both wild killer whales and killer whales kept in captivity. With the information I found, I plan to prove the shortened lifespan and health problems killer whales get while living in captivity are not normal. In fact the information you learned about killer whales from aquariums and commercial parks are false. This paper will argue why killer whales should not be held captive in commercial parks. This Paper will include information on the killer whale’s diet, the killer whale’s communication, and the killer whale’s physical traits.
Orcas, also known as killer whales, are amazingly intelligent and are a top predator, much like humans. However, when the top predator of the ocean collides with the top predator of land, the situation can become fatal for both humans and the whales. Holding these incredibly massive marine animals in captivity is not only inhumane and detrimental to the whale’s health, but also a potentially fatal activity for humans to participate in.
Hackmann, Willem Dirk. “SONAR.” Encyclopedia of World War II. Vol. 2. New York: Facts on File, 2007. Modern World History Online. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. .
First, according to the reading passage the sounds were detected were produced by the okra whales during a courtship ritual and those sounds were captured by the submarines. The professor refutes this point and says that the okra whales always occupy the surface waters, whereas the Sub Marines located deep in the water, and it's merely impossible for the submarines to capture those sounds.
Currently, live whale performances have become well liked for tourists to visit. When they are there, they only see what they want to see and do not care or want to know all about the complications the whales go through just to make people smile. The documentary “Blackfish” exposes the truth about the whales, their habits, and why they act the manner they do when in captivity. The inhumane treatment of whales in captivity causes negative effects on the animals which, in turn, affects the humans who care for them.
Ultrasounds use the same concepts that allow sonar on boats to see the bottom of the o...
Killer whales communicate by a series of clicks and whistles called vocalization. Each pod, or family, has their own unique language. This gives whales the ability to identify their own pods. Orcas have a brain that is about five ti...
...nd also the earth. If whales become extinct then there could be a rapid increase of small aquatic animals that could harm the marine food chain then further kill marine ecosystems. This is because whales help regulate the flow of food by helping to maintain a stable food chain.