Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Monday May 28 2018, @08:14AM   Printer-friendly
from the sliced-sushi dept.

Submitted via IRC for guy_

[Greek] government promises action on collisions to avoid slaughter on busy shipping routes

In an office up a steep hill in a seaside suburb of Athens, a tiny blue light flickers from a computer terminal. Dr Alexandros Frantzis, Greece's foremost oceanographer, points it out. The light, he says, tracks marine traffic "in real time".

It is key to saving one of the world's most endangered whale populations. "It logs the position, course and speed of a vessel entering Greek waters," he says. "And that is vital to mapping shipping densities in areas populated by sperm whales."

[...] Like marine mammals in most places, the whales face a multitude of threats, from entanglement in fishing nets to ingestion of plastic waste.

In Greece there is the added risk of noise pollution from Nato warships conducting underwater sonar drills – exercises blamed for disorienting whales reliant on their own form of sonar to navigate and hunt. Seismic surveys, following the discovery of underwater hydrocarbons, also pose a threat.

But Frantzis says the biggest danger to local cetaceans is the chance of colliding with a ship. He singles out tankers, cargo vessels and cruise liners [in] the waters off the western Peloponnese, an area where whales swarm but one of the busiest routes for shipping.

Last month a nine-metre whale washed up on a beach in Santorini, the latest in a series of strandings. Frantzis now has a large white bone – one of its teeth – on his desk. For sperm whales, death by collision is by far the most painful, he claims, with propellers often leaving the animals torn and gashed.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/27/shipping-routes-move-save-whales-greek-seas-dying-agony


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by AnonTechie on Monday May 28 2018, @10:52AM (4 children)

    by AnonTechie (2275) on Monday May 28 2018, @10:52AM (#685083) Journal

    I read about a device which keeps snakes away from farmers and helps both, people and snakes. Can a similar device work with whales? If yes, then all ships travelling through waters, where whales are found, could use such devices to keep whales away from the ships.

    Snake Guard an amazing stick to protect farmers & snakes [youtube.com]

    --
    Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday May 28 2018, @11:48AM (3 children)

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Monday May 28 2018, @11:48AM (#685094) Homepage

    I think the best idea would be to use a low-intensity SONAR which would irritate the whales away from the ships, yet be low powered enough to not cause damage to their hearing.

    • (Score: 2) by aiwarrior on Monday May 28 2018, @12:00PM

      by aiwarrior (1812) on Monday May 28 2018, @12:00PM (#685097) Journal

      This is what I think also...but maybe the whales actually have an incentive to go near the boats, due to the crustacean fauna in the hulls.

    • (Score: 2) by VLM on Monday May 28 2018, @01:37PM

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday May 28 2018, @01:37PM (#685123)

      Don't killer whales eat that kind of whale's young? Should a bazillion recordings of hungry killer whales to scare and piss off everything except other hungry killer whales.

      low tech SONAR would attract attack submarines for feeding, LOL.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 28 2018, @04:50PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 28 2018, @04:50PM (#685204)

      WTF. Are you a whale whisperer? I mean besides your wife, er, boyfriend.