Andros residents, local government officials and NGO representatives have made an urgent plea to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for help in determining what is behind a number of recent whales strandings near the AUTEC Naval Base on the island, The Bahama Journal has learned.
Residents on Saturday buried the 15-ft beaked whale found on Big Wood Cay in Central Andros last Wednesday. The second whale death in the area in just over a month has renewed concerns about testing in the Tongue of the Ocean.
They are looking for more information on testing that is being carried out in the Tongue of the Ocean and have asked the ministry to assist them in getting answers to a laundry list of questions which they say has long gone unanswered.
“Unfortunately, the lack of information and the opportunity to know the truth about what testing is being done in our Tongue of the Ocean is no longer acceptable,” said the group in a letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell, obtained by The Journal.
“There is almost unanimous desire on Andros to have more information regarding AUTEC and its impact on our environment to be shared. The truth is that what we do not have access to has forced us to make conclusions that may or may not be correct.”
The call for help came after a 43-ft. sperm whale came ashore at San Salvador Point, Behring Point in late February, near the AUTEC base, and has become even more urgent since a second whale – a 15-ft beaked whale – was found 10 miles south of the same area last Wednesday.
It was unclear how the hale died, but there were no predator marks on the body, and due to the advanced state of decomposition, fisheries experts say it is unlikely that the cause of death will ever be learned.
The group, speaking on behalfï¾ of Andros residents, wants the ministry to ask AUTEC officials about the strandings of all marine mammals in the area since 1965, specifically the autopsy reports relating to a beaked whale that came ashore near AUTEC in January 2005, and an unknown species of whale that came ashore on Big Wood Cay, sometime in 2004.
The group is also asking for a copy of the autopsy report from the sperm whale that beached over a month ago, a log of all strandings documented and noted over the past 40 years, information about what appeared to be a missing tag from the sperm whale’s dorsal fin, and specific protocols used by AUTEC regarding marine mammal strandings and injuries.
Members of the group also want the complete agreement between The Bahamas and AUTEC, along with any amendments that affect the terms and conditions of the agreement.
They also want to know why the local fisheries and environmental health officers are not allowed on the AUTEC base, among other things.
“We feel this is particularly peculiar given the complaints by fishermen regarding the impact that AUTEC divers have had on the fish environment,” said the letter, which was signed by Stephen Smith, local government representative, Behring Point; Peter Douglas, ANCAT; Tamiko Thompson, commercial fisherman; and Margo Blackwell, director of the Bahamas Environmental Research Centre.
“While we know there are other issues regarding AUTEC and how it has impacted Andros, we feel the above concerns are quite urgent and we welcome your looking into them as soon as you can and sharing it with us.”
Last week’s stranding of the rare beaked whale has also grabbed the attention of the Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources Leslie Miller, whose ministry has requested, through foreign affairs, an urgent meeting with AUTEC officials and the BEST Commission.
Minister Miller has described the situation as one that “can no longer be ignored.”
There has also been a call for the government to put a stop to all testing in the Tongue of the Ocean, until it can be determined what is causing the deaths.
The strandings have also sparked a new round of criticism from local environmentalists who feel that the government has not done enough to protect marine mammals.
“Last year the government passed a useless Marine Mammal Protection Act, and had [officials of] the government listened to what Re-earth, ARK, the Bahamas Humane Society and other animal welfare groups were saying, they would have recognised that the science that we were giving them, in terms of noise in the ocean, affects not only marine mammals,” Sam Duncombe of Re-Earth told The Bahama Journal.
“It basically identified the fact that noise in the ocean is very detrimental to those creatures and other sea life, and that was completely ignored.”
Ms. Duncombe said that the only information included in the Act addresses the protection of marine mammal facilities.
“It’s not a real marine mammal act that would look at all situations where marine mammals were safe within the ocean. The habitat would have to be protected, which it isn’t,” she said.
Pointing to a series of strandings in Abaco in 2000, Ms. Duncombe noted that those deaths were caused by U.S. Navy sonar testing, according to the officials findings.
“That study and others were brought to the attention of The Bahamas government [officials] and they completely ignored that and went ahead and created an Act that does not protect marine mammals. All it does is it allows facilities to open with marine mammals in them,” she said.
“It is reprehensible that they’ve done the Act like that, completely irresponsible. They did not take in the science that was available at the time.”
By: Erica Wells, The Bahama Journal
