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Stephen Marsh, operations manager at the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, said: "At the moment the report from the coastguard is that the whale is still free-swimming.
"Because we're come up to spring tide, the waters may be a bit deeper but that can be a double-edged sword because you get very high tides and very low tides.
"If it does strand the story will be very similar to what we've had recently - the whale will have very little chance of relaunching and, if it does, its chances of survival will be very low."
The Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, which examines all whale, dolphin and porpoise strandings in the UK, is working to establish why the whales came ashore and how they died.
www.independent.co.uk...
originally posted by: gortex
and must hint at a problem affecting these animals
The deaths of 30 sperm whales in the North Sea were probably due to them straying into shallow waters while hunting squid, a marine expert said. Six whales died after washing up on the east coast of England in Skegness and Hunstanton. The others were found beached in France, Germany and the Netherlands. Dr Peter Evans, director of the Sea Watch Foundation, dismissed suggestions man-made objects had affected the animals' ability to navigate.
He also dismissed speculation man-made objects such as wind turbines interfered with how the mammals navigate. "I can understand why people look for some human factor that may be causing these strandings, but there is certainly no evidence." "Whale strandings occurred as far back as the 16th Century," he added.
The only problem is they're chasing squid straying into the North Sea
I'd be inclined to believe a marine expert
There is evidence that active sonar leads to beaching. On some occasions cetaceans have stranded shortly after military sonar was active in the area, suggesting a link.[9] Theories describing how sonar may cause whale deaths have also been advanced after necropsies found internal injuries in stranded cetaceans. In contrast, some who strand themselves due to seemingly natural causes are usually healthy prior to beaching:
en.wikipedia.org...
There have been mass beaching incidents as far back as the 1500s.
The Donegal strandings have been connected to sonar technology used by the Royal Navy.
Sonar equipment has been the focus of investigations into whale and dolphin strandings for more than 10 years.
It is thought that the artificial sonar may interfere with the natural sonar sense of the animals causing them to be disoriented.
Sonar may also cause sudden pressure changes inside the animals' bodies leading to internal haemorrhaging.
Among the most notable incidents involving sonar was the stranding of a large number of beaked whales on beaches in the Canaries following Nato naval exercises in 2002.
And the US navy was accused of culpability in the deaths of 17 beaked whales which died in the Bahamas following a sonar exercise.
www.bbc.co.uk...