The Navy proposes continued sonar use throughout the region's waters in its latest environmental impact statement, despite an increase in beaked whales washing up on Guam's shores and research indicating sonar is correlated with such incidents.

"If whales are dying, something else is going on in the environment beyond what we see and experience," said Brent Tibbatts, fisheries biologist for the Guam Department of Agriculture's Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources. "The Marianas Islands Training and Testing is not only affecting marine mammals."

An 11-foot, 1,000-pound beaked whale was found on the reef flats off the waters of Agat on Jan. 17. Tibbatts said that there were no obvious signs that could help determine what caused the whale's death. Joint Region Marianas stated that sonar usage only occurred after the whale's stranding. However, the whale's stranding coincided with the Navy's anti-submarine warfare training, Exercise Sea Dragon, which ran from Jan. 14 until Jan. 22.

The training, according to an announcement from the military, allowed the U.S. and allies to "focus on building anti-submarine warfare proficiency and increase warfighting lethality."

Six beaked whales have washed ashore since 2007, in varying states of health, according to records from the Guam Department of Agriculture, Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources.

Four of these incidents occurred within days of Navy activity: a beaked whale washed ashore alive in Piti in 2007, a beaked whale washed ashore alive but died soon after in Merizo in 2015, a beaked whale washed ashore dead in Agat in 2015, and the latest incident in January this year, a whale washed ashore alive in Agat and died soon after.

Joint Region Marianas, in an email correspondence, maintains that these incidents are not determined to be related to Navy sonar use, and that, "as demonstrated by the lack of strandings in Navy training and testing areas, the mitigation measures the Navy currently implements have been demonstrated to be successful at minimizing impacts to marine mammals, including beaked whales."

While there have not been a large number of beaked whale strandings on Guam, the recorded incidents are still significant, Tibbatts says.

The first documented incident of a beaked whale washing ashore in Micronesia was at the Marshall Islands in 1975, according to Tibbatts. The next stranding was not until 2007, in Piti.

"From one stranding in 35 years, up to 2007, and suddenly six in 10 years, the rate of strandings has gone way up, and that corresponds a lot to the increase in frequency in military activities around Guam," Tibbatts said. "The number now is not significant, but the number compared to past time is very much significant."



Determining if a beaked whale washed ashore due to sonar use is difficult to prove, Tibbatts added. There is very little known about beaked whales, and the variety of states that whales wash ashore in are not conducive to proper sampling and testing.



"It is very difficult to tell, to prove that it's sonar is a really hard thing to do," he said. "You can't prove that it's sonar, but you can't say it isn't."

The Navy's proposed draft environmental impact statement addresses potential impacts on marine mammals, acknowledging that beaked whales may exhibit behavioral and physiological responses, such as avoiding areas of sound and breaking off feeding dives, due to sonar exposure. However, major or permanent impacts to beaked whale populations are not expected to occur, the document states.



"The Navy has been training with active sonar systems in the Pacific for decades including in areas frequented by beaked whales," Joint Region Marianas stated.

However, research published this January finds that beaked whales may undergo more than temporary behavioral and physiological responses to sonar. Beaked whales stranded after nearby naval exercises show signs of a common divers' ailment, decompression sickness.

The sickness occurs when in an attempt to flee the source of noise, beaked whales swim away or surface too quickly, causing formation of gas bubbles in the body. This can result in whales stranding themselves on shore and death.

The research states that the effects of long-term exposure to sonar are unknown due to the lack of data on beaked whales in general, but that any effects of decompression sickness have clear impacts on the welfare of whales, and that removal of individuals from local whale populations is likely detrimental.

Antonio Fernandez, co-author of the study and veterinary histology and pathology professor at the University of Las Palmas of Gran Canaria, stated prompt political action in Spain resulted in a remarkable conservation success for marine mammals in the face of sonar use.

The Canary Islands, where much of his research was conducted, saw 18 beaked whales strandings between 2002 and 2004. In 2004, Spain banned sonar use around the Canary Islands. There have been no strandings since the ban.

"The Canary Islands were a hot-spot for mass strandings of beaked whales before 2004," Fernandez said in an email. "But there have been no new mass strandings since the moratorium, proving the effectiveness of this mitigation, and the link between these strandings and naval exercises with antisubmarine mid-frequency sonar."

Joint Region Marianas stated that the case of the Canary Islands does not apply to Guam, as there have been not mass stranding incidents of two or more beaked whales washing up at a time.

"If you stopped the sonar, and the strandings stopped, there must have been some relationship between the two," Tibbatts said. "It's a smoking gun."

The issue extends beyond whales as well, he stresses.

"People just get joy out of knowing those are in the water around here, when people are out in the water, they like to see them, it's part of the intrinsic quality of life living here," Tibbatts said. "And it's not only beaked whales that we're looking at, it's all the marine mammals this could affect in the area."

Public hearing

Residents have the opportunity to view the the draft supplement to the 2015 Marianas Testing and Training environmental impact statement and submit comments at www.mitt-eis.com. The public comment period, open until March 18, is an opportunity for residents to provide input on how the Navy can best mitigate its negative impacts on the region's resources.

The draft supplemental environmental impact statement evaluates the potential effects from ongoing military activities, including the use of active sonar and explosives, and how to minimize its impacts. The document reports an increase in certain training and testing activities, and lists the consequences of its activities on the region's waters, air, mammals, fishing and tourism. Once finalized, the supplemental environmental impact statement will set the standard for the Navy's conservation and mitigation efforts for the next five years.

The Navy will also host a public hearing on the proposed actions at a time and date to be decided.