U.S. OKs Tests to Resume, Says Whale Deaths Are Not Related
Federal officials have given permission for underwater sound experiments to resume off the Northern California coast after determining that the deaths of three humpback whales were unrelated to the tests.
It was not known if the tests by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego would be immediately resumed.
The $35-million experiment to investigate climate changes was ordered postponed this month after the equipment was installed on Pioneer Seamount, about 50 miles west of Half Moon Bay. Some environmental groups claimed that three 40-ton whales died because of the loud noise from the testing.
The first whale was found Nov. 4 off Stinson Beach, north of San Francisco. Four days later, biologists spotted two more dead humpbacks floating off the Farallon Islands, west of San Francisco.
Jim Lecky of the National Marine Fisheries Services said that based on the advanced decomposition of the whales, they probably died before the testing began.
The postponement was just the latest problem for the experiment, which had been delayed 18 months because of logistics and concerns that the sounds would harm sea mammals. Scientists hope to investigate global warming by measuring the time it takes sound to pass through ocean water. Sound moves faster in warm water.
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