Migaloo the white whale is migrating north, risking sonar attacks and the live firing exercises of military war games.
Migaloo has been widely reported in the media as an iconic Australian animal. The rare white whale is joining thousands of other whales migrating north and was last spotted just south of Brisbane, at the Gold Coast on July 1st.
At his current rate of progress, he should reach central QLD at about the same time as the US-Aust joint war games, Talisman Sabre, are conducting live firing exercises on land and sea in the Great Barrier Reef and at Shoalwater Bay.
The US Navy have given themselves global impunity to use active sonar in these exercises, overriding all environmental laws, even the US's own. Sonar is know to cause whale beachings, brain haemorrages and hearing damage in whales, cetaceans, turtles and other sea creatures. Sonar can even disrupt the breeding and egg laying capacity of fish.
In 2007 media reported that the ADF might consider moving the training site because of Migaloo. This has not materialised.
Will the mass media be reporting this risk to the Great Barrier Reef and it's creatures? Or will it continue to wax lyrical about the whale's beauty while ignoring the real threats posed by ongoing war games polluting our protected areas?
Comments
Re: Migaloo the white whale heads north to QLD into danger
Migaloo the whale whale just passed Byron. Military OZ + US exercises start in Shoalwater bay QLD in a few days.How would the us navy and the dep of defense feel about killing migaloo with their military sonar devises. Or.. how would we feel about the us navy and the dep of defense killing migaloo, and even more to the point how would migaloo feel.