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# Santa Monica Depth charging the Navy
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-depth-charging-the-navy-editor/
- Published: 2007-03-26T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:18:14.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Stephanie Boyles, M.S. Norfolk, VA*

Let’s hope the lawsuit recently filed in California over the Navy’s sonar tests convinces the Navy to take animals’ welfare into consideration.

Mounting evidence links sonar tests to many whale beaching around the world. Recently, a 15-foot beaked whale beached herself and was reportedly found dead with bleeding around both ears, likely a result of Navy sonar testing done off the coast of North Carolina. In January 2005, 37 whales beached themselves and died on the Outer Banks following a similar Navy sonar exercise.

A study published in the journal Nature in 2003 suggested that high-powered sonar from Navy ships appears to give whales and other marine mammals a version of the bends, causing them to develop dangerous gas bubbles in some tissues and blood vessels forcing them to beach themselves and die. Researchers found a condition similar to decompression sickness in 10 of 14 dead beached whales who were stranded on the Canary Islands soon after an international Navy exercise in 2002.

We’ve put people on the moon — certainly, we can develop a sonar system that doesn’t harm innocent animals. To learn more, visit www.HelpingWildlife.com.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 26, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/032607.pdf?ref=smdp.com)