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posted by martyb on Wednesday May 01 2019, @02:54AM   Printer-friendly
from the a-whale's-tales dept.

Whale with Harness Could Be Russian Weapon, Say Norwegian Experts

The Guardian:

"We were going to put out nets when we saw a whale swimming between the boats," fisherman Joar Hesten told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. "It came over to us, and as it approached, we saw that it had some sort of harness on it."

The strange behaviour of the whale, which was actively seeking out the vessels and trying to pull straps and ropes from the sides of the boats, as well as the fact it was wearing a tight harness which seemed to be for a camera or weapon, raised suspicions among marine experts that the animal had been given military-grade training by neighbouring Russia. Inside the harness, which has now been removed from the whale, were the words "Equipment of St. Petersburg".

The Russians are winning the race to weaponize sharks whales with laser beams.

Harnessed Beluga May Have Been Part of Quiet Russian Project

A white beluga whale made a splash last week when it was found to be wearing a harness by fisherman in Norway.

Norwegian fishermen discovered a beluga whale wearing a harness off the country’s northern coast last week. The fishermen were fascinated with how tame it was, but there might be a good reason that it was comfortable around humans. Scientists from Norway’s Institute of Marine Research suspect the whale and its harness may be part of an operation cooked up by the Russian military.

Because of the reported tightness of the harnass, scientists were concerned that the whale has been wearing the harness for a very long time which could be dangerous for it.

The scientists tracked down the whale near the town of Ingoy and attempted to remove its harness. Just as the fishermen had reported, the harness looked way too tight, according to Norwegian news outlet NRK

Audun Rikardsen, a professor at the Department of Arctic and Marine Biology at the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsoe, northern Norway stated that the harness itself had a notation inside that reads "Equipment St. Petersberg" and includes a mount for an action camera (but no camera.) Audun contacted scholars in both Norway and Russia, all of which indicated it was not from research or a program any of them were aware of. Audun believes it was most likely the Russian Navy in Murmansk.

Russia does not have a history of using whales for military purposes but the Soviet Union had a full-fledged training program for dolphins.

The Soviet Union used a base in Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula during the Cold War to train the mammals for military purposes such as searching for mines or other objects and planting explosives. The facility in Crimea was closed following the collapse of the Soviet Union, though unnamed reports shortly after the Russian annexation of Crimea indicated that it had reopened.

While such things are normally kept below the surface, there have been inklings of similar efforts recently

The Russian Defense Ministry published a public tender in 2016 to purchase five dolphins for a training program. The tender did not explain what tasks the dolphins were supposed to perform, but indicated they were supposed to have good teeth. It was taken offline shortly after publication.

Additional Coverage Here.

Google translation of a more in depth Norwegian article here.


Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2

 
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by RamiK on Wednesday May 01 2019, @11:09AM (7 children)

    by RamiK (1813) on Wednesday May 01 2019, @11:09AM (#837167)

    Maybe they kept them to calibrate new sonars. Or train the operators. Or test and mitigate the effects of the sonar on the animals as some serious concerns for their welfare has been raised over the past few years due to the sonars. Or improve their own sonar by studying on how the animals use it...

    But nope. Around here people are calling fake news this, laser sharks that... I mean, if at least you'd throw a few tech buzzwords and claim they were used to train a new sonar AI for smart torpedoes or something... Even an Aqua-man film reference would have been fine...

    But a CIA false flag operation involving faking a news piece about a harnessed soviet fish*? WTF you people are smoking? Other than cod and salmon I mean...

    *and in 3, 2, 1...

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  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday May 01 2019, @12:54PM (4 children)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday May 01 2019, @12:54PM (#837199) Journal

    People are smoking cod and salmon? Norway!

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 2) by Muad'Dave on Wednesday May 01 2019, @01:05PM (3 children)

      by Muad'Dave (1413) on Wednesday May 01 2019, @01:05PM (#837205)

      > People are smoking cod and salmon?

      Yeah, but they're hard as hell to keep lit.

      • (Score: 3, Touché) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday May 01 2019, @01:28PM (2 children)

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Wednesday May 01 2019, @01:28PM (#837231) Journal

        now we know why they invented lutefisk

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday May 01 2019, @04:45PM

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Wednesday May 01 2019, @04:45PM (#837357) Journal

          Yeah, as an area-denial weapon.

          --
          I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
        • (Score: 3, Funny) by DeVilla on Thursday May 02 2019, @04:09AM

          by DeVilla (5354) on Thursday May 02 2019, @04:09AM (#837667)

          Lutefisk, a traditional Norwegian fish product, was invented by the Vikings as an easier way of instilling fear in their enemies than raiding and pillaging. It is traditionally inflicted upon young Norwegians by their grandparents, and is described by one famous author as 'the world's largest chunk of phlegm.'

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by HiThere on Wednesday May 01 2019, @04:25PM (1 child)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 01 2019, @04:25PM (#837348) Journal

    One thing we're doing is noticing that there's more than one St. Petersburg. And that the photos on the net are in the Roman alphabet rather than Cyrillic. So why *assume* it's Russian? (Check out the name of the Russian city on Wikipedia. It's varied a lot, but it's never been "St. Petersburg", though that's the common English name for it. In Roman letters the current name is "Sankt-Peterburg".

    --
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    • (Score: 2) by legont on Thursday May 02 2019, @12:10AM

      by legont (4179) on Thursday May 02 2019, @12:10AM (#837607)

      Yep. St. Petersburg is, typically, in Florida. Russian one is either Sankt-Peterburg or Saint-Petersburg. Little details that lead to a spy catch. St. is way too American.

      --
      "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.