‘Acoustic event’ led to mass beaching of beaked whales off westcoast

The reason for the stranding of up to 60 whales off the west coast in July/August 2018 has finally been revealed.

Patrick Lyne of the Irish Whales and Dolphins Group told an Oireachtas Committee it was the largest mass stranding of Cuvier's beaked whales anywhere in the world and involved up to 60 mammals across a number of western counties, including Mayo, Galway, Sligo and Donegal.

He elaborated: "A number of species ended up dead on the beaches in Scotland and Ireland.

"This could potentially, based on research, represent over 50% of the population of Cuvier's beaked whales in Ireland. That all happened potentially on one day.

"All the indicators are that it was caused by an acoustic event by a foreign navy operating in Irish waters.

"We do not have any control, we do not have any monitoring ability and we have nothing in place to prevent that from happening again.

"If this were a marine protected area, it would just be a sorry state of affairs.

"We cannot maintain populations if we do not monitor what is happening under the water. It is absolutely crucial that we have the ability to monitor acoustically and we do not have that.

"The Marine Institute does not have a hydrophone, as far as I know. The Naval Service does not have a hydrophone.

"The only hydrophones that exist in the State are in the possession of third-level colleges and NGOs, and one is with a company involved with wind farms."