Don Armitage
 
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The authoritative site about the human and natural history of Aotea Great Barrier Island.

Submarine explosions off Great Barrier Island

New Zealand Defence forces are active at various times around Great Barrier Island. At times, the defence forces cause underwater explosions to occur.
The activity begs three questions based on the quite obvious potential for such activity to harm marine life.
 
  1. Do the NZ Defence Forces have a policy that takes into consideration the potential harm to marine life,  where underwater explosions will be involved around the coastal waters of New Zealand?
  2. If such a policy does exist, when was it last updated?
  3. On what research is the policy based if it does exist?
 
If there is a current policy, I would like to publish it here so everyone can see it.
 
The size of the Longfin Pilot whale strandings in 1984 and 1985 on the coast of Great Barrier Island and their co-incidence with army/navy exercises need to be investigated.
 
Recent example-
If you want to see an example of a recent submarine explosion carried out by the NZ Defence forces off this island then here it is.
   
 "The New Zealand Navy and Air Force successfully test-fired two air-to-surface missiles in a joint exercise on Friday, early September, 2008.
 The operation - utilising the Navy Frigate Te Kaha, Naval Seasprite Helicopters from 6 Squadron and an Air Force P3 Orion - saw two AGM65 Maverick air-to-surface missiles launched against two targets at sea east of Great Barrier Island.   Maritime Component Commander, Commodore Tony Parr said the operation was an important demonstration of the Seasprite and Maverick missile capability. "It is also a very good example of sailors and airmen working together to bring to bear that capability," he said. "The activity involved a 'start to finish' validation of current Royal New Zealand Navy and Royal New Zealand Air Force standing operating procedures, orders and instructions, and to verify the Seasprite as a firing platform for the Maverick missile." Commodore Parr said the Maverick missile was introduced to service seven years ago by the New Zealand Defence Force but this was the first live-firing from a SH-2G (NZ) Seasprite, against either maritime or land targets."
Click  here to see a video of one of the firings, the first video on youtube was taken down.
Apparently the target was a floating shipping container.
 
Also-It is expected shortly that the US Supreme Court will be ruling on the US Navy's use of Medium Frequency Sonar near the US coast..
 

Attached is a pdf 'An acoustic survey of baleen whales off Great Barrier Island' 1996   (added to this site 21st Oct 2008)

 

Don Armitage Last updated (21st Oct., 2008).

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  • nzjmfr_2006_044-lo[1].pdf - on Oct 20, 2008 7:29 PM by Don Armitage (version 1)
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