Cetacean stranding
Cetacean stranding, commonly known as beaching, is a phenomenon in which whales and dolphins strand themselves on land, usually on a beach. Beached whales often die due to dehydration, collapsing under their own weight, or drowning when high tide covers the blowhole.[1] Cetacean stranding has occurred since before recorded history.[2]
Several explanations for why cetaceans strand themselves have been proposed, including changes in water temperatures,[3] peculiarities of whales' echolocation in certain surroundings,[4] and geomagnetic disturbances,[5] but none have so far been universally accepted as a definitive reason for the behavior. However, a link between the mass beaching of beaked whales and use of mid-frequency active sonar has been found.[6]
Whales that die due to stranding can subsequently decay and bloat to the point where they can explode, causing gas and their internal organs to fly out.
Species
Every year, up to 2,000 animals beach themselves.[7] Although the majority of strandings result in death, they pose no threat to any species as a whole. Only about ten cetacean species frequently display mass beachings, with ten more rarely doing so.[citation needed]
All frequently-involved species are toothed whales (Odontoceti), rather than baleen whales (Mysticeti). These species share some characteristics which may explain why they beach.
Body size does not normally affect the frequency, but both the animals' normal habitat and social organization do appear to influence their chances of coming ashore in large numbers. Odontocetes that normally inhabit deep waters and live in large, tightly knit groups are the most susceptible. This includes the
Solitary species naturally do not strand en masse. Cetaceans that spend most of their time in shallow, coastal waters almost never mass strand.
Causes
Strandings can be grouped into several types. The most obvious distinction is between single and multiple strandings. Many theories, some of them controversial, have been proposed to explain beaching, but the question remains unresolved.
- Natural deaths at sea
- The carcasses of deceased cetaceans are likely to float to the surface at some point; during this time, decompose enough to sink to the ocean bottom, where the carcass forms the basis of a unique local ecosystem called a whale fall.
- Individual strandings
- Single live strandings are often the result of individual illness or injury; in the absence of human intervention these almost inevitably end in death.
- Multiple strandings
- Multiple strandings in one place are rare, and often attract media coverage as well as rescue efforts. The strong social cohesion of toothed whale pods appears to be a key factor in many cases of multiple stranding: If one gets into trouble, its distress calls may prompt the rest of the pod to follow and beach themselves alongside.[9]
Environmental
Whales have beached throughout human history, with evidence of humans salvaging from stranded sperm whales in southern Spain during the Upper Magdalenian era some 14,000 years before the present.[2] Some strandings can be attributed to natural and environmental factors, such as rough weather, weakness due to old age or infection, difficulty giving birth,[9] hunting too close to shore, or navigation errors.
In 2004, scientists at the University of Tasmania linked whale strandings and weather, hypothesizing that when cool Antarctic waters rich in squid and fish flow north, whales follow their prey closer towards land.[3] In some cases predators (such as killer whales) have been known to panic other whales, herding them towards the shoreline.[3]
Their
A 2017 study by scientists from
"Follow-me" strandings
Some strandings may be caused by larger cetaceans following
Sometimes following a dolphin can help lead a whale out of danger: In 2008, a local dolphin was followed out to open water by two
Orcas' intentional, temporary strandings
Pods of
In Argentina, killer whales are known to hunt on the shore by intentionally beaching themselves and then lunging at nearby seals before riding the next wave safely back into deeper waters. This was first observed in the early 1970s, then hundreds times more since within this pod. This behavior seems to be taught from one generation to the next, evidenced by older individuals nudging juveniles towards the shore, and can sometimes also be a play activity.[12][13][14]
Sonar
There is evidence that
The low frequency active sonar (LFA sonar) used by the military to detect submarines is the loudest sound ever put into the seas. Yet the U.S. Navy is planning to deploy LFA sonar across 80 percent of the world ocean. At an amplitude of two hundred forty decibels, it is loud enough to kill whales and dolphins and has already caused mass strandings and deaths in areas where U.S. and/or NATO forces have conducted exercises.
— Whitty 2007, p. 50
Direct injury
The large and rapid pressure changes made by loud sonar can cause
Injury at a vulnerable moment
Another means by which sonar could be hurting cetaceans is a form of decompression sickness. This was first raised by necrological examinations of 14 beaked whales stranded in the Canary Islands. The stranding happened on 24 September 2002, close to the operating area of Neo Tapon, an international naval exercise, about four hours after the activation of mid-frequency sonar.[18] The team of scientists found acute tissue damage from gas-bubble lesions, which are indicative of decompression sickness.[18]
The precise mechanism of how sonar causes bubble formation is not known. It could be due to cetaceans panicking and surfacing too rapidly in an attempt to escape the sonar pulses. There is also a theoretical basis by which sonar vibrations can cause supersaturated gas to
Diving patterns of Cuvier's beaked whales
The overwhelming majority of the cetaceans involved in sonar-associated beachings are Cuvier's beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostrus). Individuals of this species strand frequently, but mass strandings are rare.
Cuvier's beaked whales are an open-ocean species that rarely approach the shore, making them difficult to study in the wild. Prior to the interest raised by the sonar controversy, most of the information about them came from stranded animals. The first to publish research linking beachings with naval activity were Simmonds and Lopez-Jurado in 1991. They noted that over the past decade there had been a number of mass strandings of beaked whales in the Canary Islands, and each time the Spanish Navy was conducting exercises. Conversely, there were no mass strandings at other times. They did not propose a theory for the strandings. Fernández et al. in a 2013 letter to Nature reported that there had been no further mass strandings in that area, following a 2004 ban by the Spanish government on military exercises in that region.[20]
In May 1996, there was another mass stranding in West Peloponnese, Greece. At the time, it was noted as "atypical" both because mass strandings of beaked whales are rare, and also because the stranded whales were spread over such a long stretch of coast, with each individual whale spatially separated from the next stranding. At the time of the incident, there was no connection made with active sonar; A. Frantzis, the marine biologist investigating the incident, made the connection to sonar because he discovered a notice to mariners concerning the test. His report was published in March 1998.[21]
Peter Tyack, of
At shallow depths Cuvier's stop vocalizing, either because of fear of predators, or because they don't need vocalization to track each other at shallow depths, where they have light adequate to see each other.
Their surfacing behavior is highly unusual, because they exert considerable physical effort to surface by a controlled ascent, rather than passively floating to the surface as sperm whales do. Every deep dive is followed by three or four shallow dives. The elaborate dive patterns are assumed to be necessary to control the diffusion of gases in the bloodstream. No data show a beaked whale making an uncontrolled ascent, or failing to do successive shallow dives.[citation needed] This behavior suggests that the Cuvier's are in a vulnerable state after a deep dive – presumably on the verge of decompression sickness – and require time and perhaps the shallower dives to recover.
Summary review
De Quirós et al. (2019)[22] published a review of evidence on the mass strandings of beaked whale linked to naval exercises where sonar was used. It concluded that the effects of mid-frequency active sonar are strongest on Cuvier's beaked whales but vary among individuals or populations. The review suggested the strength of response of individual animals may depend on whether they had prior exposure to sonar, and that symptoms of decompression sickness have been found in stranded whales that may be a result of such response to sonar. It noted that no more mass strandings had occurred in the Canary Islands once naval exercises where sonar was used were banned, and recommended that the ban be extended to other areas where mass strandings continue to occur.[22][23]
Disposal
If a whale is beached near an inhabited locality, the rotting carcass can pose a nuisance as well as a health risk. Such very large carcasses are difficult to move. The whales are often towed back out to sea away from shipping lanes, allowing them to decompose naturally, or they are towed out to sea and blown up with explosives. Government-sanctioned explosions have occurred in South Africa, Iceland, Australia and United States.[24][25][26] If the carcass is older, it is buried.
In New Zealand, which is the site of many whale strandings, treaties with the indigenous
Health risks
A beached whale carcass should not be consumed. In 2002, fourteen Alaskans ate muktuk (whale blubber) from a beached whale, resulting in eight of them developing botulism, with two of the affected requiring mechanical ventilation.[28] This is a possibility for any meat taken from an unpreserved carcass.
Large strandings
This is a list of large cetacean strandings (200 or more).
Total | Deaths | Survived | Date | Incident | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1,000 | 1,000 | 0 | 1918 | Largest pilot whale stranding ever recorded.[29] | Chatham Islands, New Zealand |
656 | 335 | 321 | 2017 | About 650 pilot whales beached themselves at the top of South Island, killing 335 of them. The others were able to swim away at high tide or were refloated by volunteers.[30][31][32] | South Island, New Zealand |
500+ | 500+ | 0 | 1897 | More than 500 pilot whales died at Teal Inlet.[33] | Teal Inlet, Falkland Islands |
470 | 362 | 108 | 2020 | About 270 pilot whales were found at Macquarie Heads on September 21, followed by the discovery of 200 dead whales two days later about 10 kilometers south, raising the total to 470. Only 108 were rescued.[34][35] | Tasmania, Australia |
±300 | ±75 | ±225 | 1985 | Nearly 300 pilot whales ran aground on Great Barrier Island, killing about one-quarter of them. Local residents, who had received rescue lectures after a similar incident the previous year, helped rescue more than 200 whales at high tide.[36] | Great Barrier Island, New Zealand |
294 | 245 | 49+ | 1935 | Around 300 pilot whales were stranded at Stanley, Tasmania.[37][38][39] The exact number of deaths or whales involved is unclear, with one newspaper reporting at least 245 confirmed deaths,[40] while another newspaper reported in 1936 that 70 whales escaped during high tide the day after the stranding.[41] | Tasmania, Australia |
253 | 253 | 0 | 1978 | More than 250 false killer whales stranded and died near Pukekohe.[42] | North Island, New Zealand |
240 | 240 | 0 | 2022 | About 240 pilot whales beached themselves at Walhere Bay on Pitt Island, just 3 days after 240 pilot whales beached themselves at nearby Chatham Island.[43] | Pitt Island, New Zealand |
240 | 240 | 0 | 2022 | About 240 pilot whales beached themselves in the northwest of Chatham Island, just 3 days before 240 whales beached themselves at nearby Pitt Island.[43] | Chatham Island, New Zealand |
230 | 195 | 35 | 2022 | About 230 pilot whales beached themselves on the west coast of Tasmania, exactly two years to the day of another mass stranding in the same area.[44] | Tasmania, Australia |
Others
On June 23, 2015, 337 dead whales were discovered in a remote
In November 2018, over 140 whales were witnessed stranded on a remote beach in New Zealand and had to be euthanised because of their declining health condition.[47] In July 2019, nearly 50 long-finned pilot whales were found stranded on Snaefellsnes Peninsula in Iceland. However, they were already dead when spotted.[48]
On the evening of November 2, 2020, over 100 short-finned pilot whales were stranded on the Panadura Beach in western coast of Sri Lanka.[49] Four deaths were reported, and all other whales were rescued.[50]
See also
- Cetacean strandings in Ghana
- Cetacean strandings in Tasmania
- Dolphin drive hunting, a technique which herds small cetaceans towards the shore for slaughter
- Drift whale
- Marine Mammal Stranding Center – New Jersey, United States
- Saint-Clément-des-Baleines – A coastal area on French island Île de Ré named after mass strandings of whales
- Golden Bay, New Zealand – A renowned area for pilot whale mass strandings on Farewell Spit in Cook Strait
- Whaling
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