terrorist alert!
It's not clear when the actual porpoise strandings occurred, but even if they predate the May 5 sonar tests by the USS Shoup, midrange sonar has been heard in area waters since April, said University of Washington assistant professor Dave Bain, who was in the area on that date with students from his Field Studies in Marine Mammalogy class.
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Haro Strait is the waterway between the southeast tip of Canada's Vancouver Island and the San Juan Islands.
Witnesses in area waters reported seeing scores of porpoises leaping from the water on May 5, apparently trying to escape the sound.
When the bursts of sound became audible to humans, killer whales in the area bunched near the shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and milled around, Bain said in an e-mail report distributed by the Orca Conservancy.
As top predators, killer whales "don't have a flight response," said Fred Felleman of the Orca Conservancy. "They're not used to needing a flight response."
Peggy Andersen AP Seattle PI May 16, 2003
