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With the British military already in the dock over the impact its activity is having on marine mammals a major multi-national exercise is set to get under-way.
Exercise 'Joint Warrior', involving ships and aircraft from 17 countries, will take place from the 19 April to the 2nd of May involving sea exercise areas and shore ranges off the west coast of Scotland. Approximately 40 warships and about 70-90 aircraft will participate in exercise activity including low-flying, live-firing on land and sea ranges and simulated bombing runs against airports on Hebridean Islands.
The 'Joint Warrior' series of major exercises are held twice yearly - another is planned for Oct. 2008. They are a follow-on to a series of NATO exercises code-named 'Neptune Warrior', also held biannually, which caused major disruption and munitions pollution off Scotland for several years.
This year environmentalists have a further concern. The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) is concerned about the mysterious stranding of several whale species earlier this year, including five Cuvier's beaked whales, a species rarely seen in British waters.
WDCS and the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust have submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to find out whether the strandings of Cuvier's off the islands of Islay, Tiree and Harris coincided with the use of military sonar in smaller scale military exercises which take place periodically in Practice and Exercise Areas (PEXAs).
So far the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have been tight lipped about possible military involvement in the deaths of the whales. However, there is growing International evidence that military activity is directly linked to such events.
Despite MoD protestations that they attempt to minimise ecological and environmental damage during these exercises few believe massive exercises of this type can be held without both widespread disruption, death to wildlife and long term ecological damage.
The Celtic League have repeatedly expressed concerns about the damage caused, particularly in areas such as the Cape Wrath firing range. Paradoxically, many of the countries whose military forces will disrupt life and add to pollution in sparsely populated areas of North and Western Scotland are prohibited from such activities in their own countries.
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J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League
19/04/08
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