Hizbullah rockets disturbed dolphins, whales too

Sea mammals off the Mediterranean coast wandered slightly during the war.

dolphin 298.88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
dolphin 298.88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Hizbullah rockets fired during the Second Lebanon War caused dolphins and whales off the Mediterranean coast to wander slightly, according to researchers at the University of Haifa. Dr. Danny Kerem and Rafi Kent of the Recanati Institute for Limnological Research disclosed the results of a survey last week they conducted of sea mammals and the effects of the terrorist rockets that fell into the sea between Haifa and Rosh Hanikra. Since dolphins have very sensitive hearing mechanisms, the falling of rockets into the sea was expected to disturb them greatly, as the noise reached as far as 25 kilometers from Israel's coast. The researchers conducted sonar tests during and immediately after the war. Neither dolphins nor whales abandoned their "homes" in the sea, but there were fewer in these areas, as they temporarily wandered north or south during the war, the researchers said.