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Does this scanning with sonar harm whales? I'm surprised they are not mentioned in the article.

I believe that the sonar they are talking about here is much "quieter" and directional than the type which they is harming sea life. The "harmful" type is either the intense omni directional sonar used to locate other ships, and the extremely loud sounds used by the petroleum industry to map subsurface deposits of oil and gas.

Reference: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/22/science/oceans-whales-noi...

Indeed. It's also possible to further minimize harm by not transmitting when marine mammals can be seen or heard nearby.

With the speed of sound and its characteristic attenuation in the sea water and marine mammals' general stealthiness this is just not possible.

Not possible, period.

Interesting conjecture! I have seen whales with my eyes and heard them on sonar, and disagree with you.

Note that minimizing harm and preventing it are different things.

I recently read an article on a UK navy ship on a mission of seafloor mapping (https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/11/21/hms_enterprise_roya...) and apparently they still make sure that there's no wildlife nearby.

"with the sonar switched on, having first ensured no marine wildlife is nearby that would be distressed by the sonar"

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