Virginia Senator John Warner is acting on behalf of Valerie Kelly, a resident of Virginia who also has a home in Fresh Creek, Andros and frequently visits The Bahamas.
Senator Warner is the chairman of the Senate Armed Sevices Committee and sits on the Environment Committee, among others.
The deaths, which took place in less than a two-month period, sparked an outcry from the island’s residents who are now demanding answers from AUTEC, the US naval base in Central Andros, and action from The Bahamas government.
They fear that sonar testing at AUTEC (Atlantic Undersea Testing and Evaluation Centre) could be behind the deaths of the whales; however, US authorties deny that activity at the base had anything to do with the whale deaths. The Bahamas government has also set up a committee to look into any affect the base may be having on the island’s environment and marine life.
But Ms Kelly wants a thorough investigation of the whale deaths by “unbiased” international experts, but only in conjunction with those who constitute the “well-informed local Andros environmental knowledge base.”
“We must remember that whales are mammals, as are human beings. Both whales and humans are in the water off Andros, in the Tongue of the Ocean, which is a world renowned dive destination and centre of environmental tourism,” Ms Kelly said in a letter to the Nassau Guardian.
“Both whales and humans depend on the God given fruitfulness of the sea. As yet we do not know why the whales are dying. It will take a long-term academic study, on-site, to determine the reason. In this matter The Bahamas must take a proactive or ‘better safe than sorry’ attitude about its national marine resources.”
Ms Kelly said that she contacted Senator Warner after she learned that the National Resources Defense Council in the US was taking legal action to stop the US Navy from using high-power sonar in a series of testes near a marine reserve in the Pacific.
The US court eventaully issued a restraining order forbidding the Navy from using the sonar in those tests for the time being.
According to Ms Kelly, Senator Warner decided to contact the Navy after receiving information on the dead whales in Andros.
Senator Warner is reportedly still waiting on a reply.
“Make no mistake, whatever the cause of the whale deaths, the delicate health of the precious Bahamian marine environment may be at stake,” said Ms Kelly in her letter. “When reefs are being damaged and whales wash up dead on Andros beaches, Bahamians and those who love the Bahamas cannot sit by and leave it to others to ensure that concern turns to necessary action.”
By: ERICA WELLS, The Nassau Guardian
