With a major NATO military exercise due to get underway off Western Britain and in the Irish Sea mystery in ten days mystery still surrounds the deaths of a number of marine mammals during the Autumn exercise period last year (see link):
https://www.livescience.com/63949-unprecedented-dead-whales…
Sonar used in the exercises is thought to disorientate the mammals and the numbers washed ashore are thought to be just a fraction of the number that die off shore.
While speculation surrounds the most recent strandings and death there is no doubt that military activity caused the stranding of almost forty pilot whales in 2011. The UK MOD which likes to trumpet its environment friendly credentials sat on the report into the incident for almost six years but was forced to release it in 2015 and accept responsibility for the deaths (link):
https://www.theguardian.com/…/royal-navy-bomb-explosions-ma…
Image: Whale carcass after Autumn 2018 military exercises.
Bernard Moffatt
pp. Celtic League military monitoring
