Fifteen whales have died and many others have become stranded at Kyle of Durness, on the north Highland coast.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said the whales were believed to be from a pod of as many as 60.
The long-finned pilot whales may have been hunting prey or had sought a place to rest.
Rescuers trying to save the pod said the whales had perished when they stranded at low tide. About 35 beached as the water in the sea loch receded.
Some 20 of them were refloated to deeper water using inflatable pontoons as the water returned, but the remainder had died, the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) charity said.
'Narrow channel'
It said many of the whales had stranded on their sides, on top of each other and upside down and were breathing in sand.
A further 20 are thought to be in deeper water and not in imminent danger.
On Friday three pilot whales, including a calf, beached on the shore of the loch.
A Royal Navy bomb disposal team training in the area offered its help in any rescue effort.
Scottish SPCA inspectors also headed for the scene.
Highland Council countryside ranger Donald Mitchell and nine coastguard volunteers monitored the situation.
Mr Mitchell said that at low tide only a narrow channel of sea remained.
Kyle of Durness opens out into Balnakeil Bay.
On Friday, Charlie Phillips, a Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) field officer, said: "It is going to be tricky.
"It is a remote and difficult place to get to."
Mr Phillips added: "The whales may have come in from the Pentland Firth, following prey or trying to find somewhere to rest."
Marine strandings
He said a young female pilot whale was found at Scourie, in Sutherland, a few weeks ago.
SAC vet Dr Andrew Brownlow of the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC), who leads the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme, drove to the scene.
The college said: "Should any of the whales fail to make it back out to sea and do not survive, Dr Brownlow will lead post mortem examinations with the aim of identifying what has caused them to come ashore.
"This enables the Strandings Scheme to monitor trends in causes of marine strandings which in turn allows identification of any new or developing hazards to marine mammals in Scottish waters."
In May, two pilot whales were found dead in a Hebridean loch after experts feared more than 60 of the animals had been at risk of becoming beached.
The pod had got into difficulty in Loch Carnan in South Uist.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-14258149
Showing posts with label whale deaths. Show all posts
Showing posts with label whale deaths. Show all posts
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday, November 8, 2010
Whales found dead on Donegal beach
Scientists have taken skin and tissue samples from the 33 pilot whales which died off the coast of County Donegal.
Environmentalists are trying to establish how the whales beached on Rutland Island near Burtonport.
It's thought they were the same group spotted in the Outer Hebrides at the end of October.
Dr Simon Berrow of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group said it was one of the biggest mass deaths of whales in Irish history.
He is concerned that Royal Navy sonar equipment could have played a role.
"Thirty or 40 pilot whales were spotted off the Outer Hebrides at South Uist last week," he said.
"It looked like they were going to strand. It was bad weather. They were not seen again."
Dr Berrow said the Royal Navy had been in the area off South Uist and had moved away.
Campaigners were concerned that the latest sonar equipment could have disturbed the navigational skills of this deep diving species of whales.
But a spokeswoman from the Royal Navy said that when the whales were spotted near South Uist, the closest navy ship was 50 miles away.
At that distance, she said, there was no way that the sonar equipment could have affected them.
In the past, the navy has denied that sonar noise from their warships could cause whales to beach.
However, in America, the US Navy was ordered not to use mid-frequency sonar during training exercises from 2007 and 2009, after a judge found in favour of campaigners who argued the devices harmed marine mammals in the area.
A team from Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology travelled to the scene off Donegal to take samples from the mammals.
Skin samples will also be sent to the Irish Cetacean Genetic Tissue Bank at the Natural History Museum in Dublin.
Sixty whales died in the 1960s off the west coast of Kerry and 35 to 40 animals died in north Kerry in 2001.
By Nuala McCann
BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11705622
Environmentalists are trying to establish how the whales beached on Rutland Island near Burtonport.
It's thought they were the same group spotted in the Outer Hebrides at the end of October.
Dr Simon Berrow of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group said it was one of the biggest mass deaths of whales in Irish history.
He is concerned that Royal Navy sonar equipment could have played a role.
"Thirty or 40 pilot whales were spotted off the Outer Hebrides at South Uist last week," he said.
"It looked like they were going to strand. It was bad weather. They were not seen again."
Dr Berrow said the Royal Navy had been in the area off South Uist and had moved away.
Campaigners were concerned that the latest sonar equipment could have disturbed the navigational skills of this deep diving species of whales.
But a spokeswoman from the Royal Navy said that when the whales were spotted near South Uist, the closest navy ship was 50 miles away.
At that distance, she said, there was no way that the sonar equipment could have affected them.
In the past, the navy has denied that sonar noise from their warships could cause whales to beach.
However, in America, the US Navy was ordered not to use mid-frequency sonar during training exercises from 2007 and 2009, after a judge found in favour of campaigners who argued the devices harmed marine mammals in the area.
A team from Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology travelled to the scene off Donegal to take samples from the mammals.
Skin samples will also be sent to the Irish Cetacean Genetic Tissue Bank at the Natural History Museum in Dublin.
Sixty whales died in the 1960s off the west coast of Kerry and 35 to 40 animals died in north Kerry in 2001.
Eimear McGee: "They're a very strong social group... so the sick and the healthy died here together"
By Nuala McCann
BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11705622
Whales found dead on Donegal beach
Scientists have taken skin and tissue samples from the 33 pilot whales which died off the coast of County Donegal.
Environmentalists are trying to establish how the whales beached on Rutland Island near Burtonport.
It's thought they were the same group spotted in the Outer Hebrides at the end of October.
Dr Simon Berrow of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group said it was one of the biggest mass deaths of whales in Irish history.
He is concerned that Royal Navy sonar equipment could have played a role.
"Thirty or 40 pilot whales were spotted off the Outer Hebrides at South Uist last week," he said.
"It looked like they were going to strand. It was bad weather. They were not seen again."
Dr Berrow said the Royal Navy had been in the area off South Uist and had moved away.
Campaigners were concerned that the latest sonar equipment could have disturbed the navigational skills of this deep diving species of whales.
But a spokeswoman from the Royal Navy said that when the whales were spotted near South Uist, the closest navy ship was 50 miles away.
At that distance, she said, there was no way that the sonar equipment could have affected them.
In the past, the navy has denied that sonar noise from their warships could cause whales to beach.
However, in America, the US Navy was ordered not to use mid-frequency sonar during training exercises from 2007 and 2009, after a judge found in favour of campaigners who argued the devices harmed marine mammals in the area.
A team from Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology travelled to the scene off Donegal to take samples from the mammals.
Skin samples will also be sent to the Irish Cetacean Genetic Tissue Bank at the Natural History Museum in Dublin.
Sixty whales died in the 1960s off the west coast of Kerry and 35 to 40 animals died in north Kerry in 2001.
By Nuala McCann
BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11705622
Environmentalists are trying to establish how the whales beached on Rutland Island near Burtonport.
It's thought they were the same group spotted in the Outer Hebrides at the end of October.
Dr Simon Berrow of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group said it was one of the biggest mass deaths of whales in Irish history.
He is concerned that Royal Navy sonar equipment could have played a role.
"Thirty or 40 pilot whales were spotted off the Outer Hebrides at South Uist last week," he said.
"It looked like they were going to strand. It was bad weather. They were not seen again."
Dr Berrow said the Royal Navy had been in the area off South Uist and had moved away.
Campaigners were concerned that the latest sonar equipment could have disturbed the navigational skills of this deep diving species of whales.
But a spokeswoman from the Royal Navy said that when the whales were spotted near South Uist, the closest navy ship was 50 miles away.
At that distance, she said, there was no way that the sonar equipment could have affected them.
In the past, the navy has denied that sonar noise from their warships could cause whales to beach.
However, in America, the US Navy was ordered not to use mid-frequency sonar during training exercises from 2007 and 2009, after a judge found in favour of campaigners who argued the devices harmed marine mammals in the area.
A team from Galway/Mayo Institute of Technology travelled to the scene off Donegal to take samples from the mammals.
Skin samples will also be sent to the Irish Cetacean Genetic Tissue Bank at the Natural History Museum in Dublin.
Sixty whales died in the 1960s off the west coast of Kerry and 35 to 40 animals died in north Kerry in 2001.
Eimear McGee: "They're a very strong social group... so the sick and the healthy died here together"
By Nuala McCann
BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11705622
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