The U.S. Navy recently awarded a grant to the University of the Virgin Islands to study the environmental impact of submarine missile launches on marine mammals. Navy sources aren't willing to discuss it, but knowledgeable local and off-island marine experts believe such launches — conducted as testing with dummy warheads — or other underwater naval operations could hold the key to why a number of whales have stranded in the Virgin Islands and the Bahamas in recent months.
In one case, even the Navy's own attempt to gather data on two Virgin Islands strandings was thrwarted. A Harvard University researcher called to investigate the cause of the strandings, one each on St. Thomas and St. John, last fall says the evidence needed to make the determination was destroyed.
According to Tony Mannucci, director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, the Navy asked Darlene Ketten, a specialist in sound-related ear injuries, to determine whether the two goosebeak whales that beached themselves in October did so because of the effects of sonar experiments being conducted at the time near the Virgin Islands.
Ketten, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, said she needed to perform a soft tissue examination of the animals' ears. But this proved impossible, because by the time she was able to locate and examine the animals' remains, there was nothing left but the skulls.
Ear damage can have major impact
Why so much concern about the ears of whales? The answers vary, depending on who is being asked.
Ear injuries can cause mammals — including humans — to lose their equilibrium and become disoriented. They can also cause excruciating pain. According to Paul Jobsis, a biology faculty member who will be involved in the UVI research, whales "don't have eardrums like we do and wouldn't have a ruptured eardrum from sonar effects, most likely." But, he said, those whales that have teeth "use sonar to navigate and to find their food. If they did have ear damage, it could prevent them from finding food or communicating with each other."
As to what could cause the whales to beach, "Nobody really knows for sure," Jobsis said.
Navy officials say their concern is rooted in their "stewardship of the sea." Some local scientists contend that underwater Navy activity has impacted on humans, and one researcher suspects it may at least once have disrupted the breeding activities of a local endangered species.
The latter half of 1999 was an eventful time for stranded whales in the Virgin Islands. Last last summer, British Virgin Islands authorities reported the stranding of at least five pilot whales there. A few weeks later, four whales were stranded in the U.S. Virgins. Two that were beached on St. Croix were rescued and released alive at sea. The other two — one each on St. Thomas and St. John — perished.
The Marine Mammal Stranding Network, which operates out of San Juan, investigates reports of marine mammals in distress throughout the Caribbean. Investigators looking into the cause of such events travel to far corners of the world in search of evidence. But when Ketten arrived in the territory in January, she said, the evidence she needed to see was long gone.
According to Ketten, the problem wasn't related to her arriving three months after the incident. "It wouldn't have mattered when I went," she said, "because the people who were in charge of them buried the bodies right away" at sea.
She says the only evidence of ear trauma that she found was in a report prepared by stranding network scientists indicating that one of the two whales was deaf and may have been so for some time.
David Nellis of the Planning and Natural Resources Department's Division of Fish and Wildlife says one of his agents was on the scene when the bodies of the two whales were towed out to sea. He said he believes that investigators checking for ear damage would have had to begin their work within three or four days of the animals' death, before significant decay set in.
Navy won't comment on operations
Lt. Bill Speaks, a Navy public information officer, declined to comment on what sort of naval operations might have been under way in the vicinity of the Virgin Islands at the time of the strandings. He said, however, "the Navy does care" about the effects its activities "have on the environment."
Trained observers have reported signs of sonar effects on or in the water at the time of the strandings. Rick Nemeth, a UVI research faculty member, said he and a group of students diving near St. John's Lameshur Bay at the time of the October stranding when they heard an underwater sound so loud it forced them to lift their heads from the water.
Nellis, who was doing some diving at the time, said, "There was definitely a lot of submarine activity. We didn't know where they were, but you could hear it. The sound from their three-note sonar had to be pretty intense" for those under the water to hear it, he said, adding that the sound he detected was one he had heard for the first time about 10 years earlier.
Neither the Navy's Speaks nor NOAA acoustics specialist Roger Gentry would comment on the accounts of the two local scientists. Gentry said whales are among the creatures most sensitive to extreme underwater sounds, but certain types of fish, turtles and humans also can hear sound frequencies underwater. The effects of those frequencies are not known, he said. Stephanie Dorezas, an information officer for NOAA's Fisheries Service, said in an April interview that because of their possible effects on humans, the Navy does not conduct underwater sonar experiments close to shore.
A former Fish and Wildlife employee, Rafe Boulon, now working with the National Park Service Biosphere Research Center, recalled an incident 12 years ago while he was observing nesting leatherback turtles on St. Croix.
"On Sandy Point, at the peak of the leatherback nesting season, we had a period of four to six days when we didn't have a single turtle nest," he said. "It was at the peak of the season when we normally would have had eight to 10 nests a night." At the time, he said, the Navy was conducting operations on the western end of the island.
"Some of the controversy," UVI's Jobsis said, "is that there are several naval strategic systems that use underwater sound" — in addition to the missile launchings — that could have an effect on marine animals. "What they call low-frequency active sonar is one," he said. "This uses sound in the same range as many odontocetes." The term refers to the smaller whales, up to and including sperm whales, that have teeth, as opposed to the larger species, called mysticetes, that have strips of finger nail-like extensions called baleen in their mouths to strain their intake of food.
17 whales, dolphins stranded in the Bahamas
The latest reported mass stranding of whales, involving 17 mammals, both whales and dolphins, occurred in the Bahamas in March. According to UVI's Jobsis, there were "several different species that beached at the same time, which is very unusual." The strandings, which occurred at various locations in the island chain, triggered an intensive response from military and civilian agencies, including the Navy, NOAA, the Smithsonian Institution, the Bahamian government and researchers from several universities.
Cmdr. Joe Navratil of the Atlantic Fleet public relations office said the Navy's response to the Bahamas incident was part of a "thorough review of all naval activities" to determine if any of them "could have had an effect on these strandings."
The Navy is interested in whale strandings as part of its wider interest "in any possible adverse effects its activities could have on the environment," Speaks said, and it spends nearly $7 millio n a year "on research to minimize its impact on the environment. Because there were Navy activities in the vicinity of the recent marine mammal strandings in the Bahamas, we are working with the National Marine and Fisheries Service (NMFS) to find out the cause."
Dorezas said the Navy notified NMFS about its operations in the Bahamas in mid-March and that Ketten and two other experts were flown to the stranding scene, where they was able to collect the tissues needed for study. Two of the 17 animals stranded were found to have blood in their ears, meaning they had fresh ear injuries.
Speaks was asked whether the Navy routinely notifies any particular agencies about its underwater testing. By law, he said, all federal agencies are required to conduct an internal assessment of activities which could have an adverse effect on the environment when carried out within U.S. waters. "Those agencies are empowered to make the determination themselves of the possibility of any adverse effects," he said. "If they deem necessary, they consult with the relevant environmental agency."
If the environmental agency requests it, Speaks added, the acting agency must conduct an environmental impact study, which can take several months and includes public comment periods. Although the activities in the Bahamas were outside of U.S. territorial waters, the internal assessment was still required under an executive order, he said.
Some environmental groups "have tried to establish a relationship between naval activities and whale strandings," Navratil acknowledged. But in early April, the Navy's Atlantic Fleet commander, Adm. Paul Gaffney, issued a statement saying the Navy did not believe the advanced warfare experiments it had been carrying out in mid-March had caused the Bahamas incidents.
Biological, chemical effects to be studied
In April, UVI announced that it has been awarded an $84,893 grant from the Navy's Strategic Systems Program to study the environmental impact of Trident missile launches from submarines on marine mammals. Biology faculty member James Battey, who helped draft the proposal for the contract, said the data to be collected "will help the federal government make decisions on regulations concerning Trident missile launches."
A UVI release about the grant stated that Navy submarines launch their missiles using an explosive gas device that creates pressure, and that the underwater explosion releases a combustion chemical and sound waves into the water. In their study, the UVI researchers will use theoretical models to assess the potential effects of the underwater blasts. The study is intended to evaluate the potential chemical and biological impact of the missile launches on marine mammals.
"The launch pressure wave will be compared to other known underwater sound sources" with regard to the "potentially negative effects on marine mammals and turtles in the launch area," UVI marine research specialist Kevin Brown said. An example of another sound source would be a large vessel's propeller noise, he said.
The grant is for a year of work beginning June 1. For the research UVI will be conducting, Battey said, "we will be having mailed-in material." The research, he said, "will be modeling what could be the impact on such marine mammals of the energy released."
Brown said the UVI researchers won't get to hear what the missile-launch explosion sounds like since, for security reasons, "the Navy does not release the sound of that, because it could then be fingerprinted."
Similar research elsewhere to date has shown "a lot of potential impact on mammals," Battey said. For the UVI project, he added, naval officials "do want some work done on the sites where they are doing launchings, and none of them are in the Caribbean."
He said it is his understanding that at present there "are no subs in the area." Certainly, he added, "submarines go through here. Without specific knowledge, with Rosie Roads [the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station on Puerto Rico's east end] so near by, it would not seem beyond the realm of possibility — but I don't know anything about it."
According to Speaks, the Navy has no "ongoing investigation" into whale strandings. "We have responded to specific events, such as the October 1999 strandings in the Virgin Islands and the Bahamas events of 15 March," he said, "because there were Navy activities conducted in the vicinity of those events. Although we have no information that would lead us to conclude that our activities were the cause of those events, we are continuing to work with NMFS to find out the cause."

Whadablee arrived at Lionel Roberts Stadium with the V.I. Calypso Monarch crown in tow Thursday night and took it home again at the end of the Carnival 2000 competition.
The veteran St. Thomas calypsonian captured enormous popular sentiment from the full house in the first round with his tribute to the recently deceased Trinidadian "Grandmaster" of calypso, Lord Kitchener. He came back to ice the victory in the second half with his commentary on the progressively sad state of the territory's government, "From Bull to Cow."
First runner-up honors went to the Mighty Pat (Samuel Ferdinand), a Crucian calypsonian who took the St. Thomas title twice a decade ago.
Whadablee — St. Clair DeSilva outside of calypso circles — also won the Best Social Commentary award for the song poking barbs at both the Schneider and Turnbull administrations but laying the blame on the electorate with its easy-to-sing chorus: "But it's we who put them there, Lord, yes, and now we have to pay with stress, and emptiness."
Fans in the audience got even more than they had come to expect as Whadablee, dapper in a formal yellow suit with matching fedora, announced from the stage in mid-song that he had written yet another verse just that morning. He then, of course, proceeded to sing it — noting Gov. Charles W. Turnbull's sacking at the start of the week of Health Commissioner Wilbur K. Callender.
The crowd also came in with enthusiasum on the chorus of the Mighty Pat's song complaining of V.I. Carnival Committee members making money off the annual event. "Get rid of them!" hundreds belted back to his lead-ins to the phrase.
This year's second runner-up was another Crucian, Patricia Ragguette, performing as Pat Raggey. The only other former V.I. Carnival monarch in the competition was Ras Regg (Reginald Martin), who won the title in 1998, succeeding Louis Ible Jr., who retired after collecting the crown in an unprecedented four successive years.

Whadablee arrived at Lionel Roberts Stadium with the V.I. Calypso Monarch crown in tow Thursday night and took it home again at the end of the Carnival 2000 competition.
The veteran St. Thomas calypsonian captured enormous popular sentiment from the full house in the first round with his tribute to the recently deceased Trinidadian "Grandmaster" of calypso, Lord Kitchener. He came back to ice the victory in the second half with his commentary on the progressively sad state of the territory's government, "From Bull to Cow."
Whadablee — St. Clair DeSilva outside of calypso circles — also won the Best Social Commentary award for the song poking barbs at both the Schneider and Turnbull administrations but laying the blame on the electorate with its easy-to-sing chorus: "But it's we who put them there, Lord, yes, and now we have to pay with stress, and emptiness."
Fans in the audience got even more than they had come to expect as Whadablee, dapper in a formal yellow suit with matching fedora, announced from the stage in mid-song that he had written yet another verse just that morning. He then, of course, proceeded to sing it — noting Gov. Charles W. Turnbull's sacking at the start of the week of Health Commissioner Wilbur K. Callender.
First runner-up honors went to the Mighty Pat (Samuel Ferdinand), a Crucian calypsonian who took the St. Thomas title twice a decade ago. The crowd came in with enthusiasum on the chorus of his song complaining of V.I. Carnival Committee members making money off the annual event. "Get rid of them!" hundreds belted back to his lead-ins to the phrase.
This year's second runner-up was Patricia Ragguette, also from St. Croix, performing as Pat Raggey. The only other former V.I. Carnival monarch in the competition was Ras Regg (Reginald Martin), who won the title in 1998, succeeding Louis Ible Jr., who retired after collecting the crown in an unprecedented four successive years.

Whadablee arrived at Lionel Roberts Stadium with the V.I. Calypso Monarch crown in tow Thursday night and took it home again at the end of the Carnival 2000 competition.
The veteran St. Thomas calypsonian captured enormous popular sentiment from the full house in the first round with his tribute to the recently deceased Trinidadian "Grandmaster" of calypso, Lord Kitchener. He came back to ice the victory in the second half with his commentary on the progressively sad state of the territory's government, "From Bull to Cow."
Whadablee — St. Clair DeSilva outside of calypso circles — also won the Best Social Commentary award for the song poking barbs at both the Schneider and Turnbull administrations but laying the blame on the electorate with its easy-to-sing chorus: "But it's we who put them there, Lord, yes, and now we have to pay with stress, and emptiness."
Fans in the audience got even more than they had come to expect as Whadablee, dapper in a formal yellow suit with matching fedora, announced from the stage in mid-song that he had written yet another verse just that morning. He then, of course, proceeded to sing it — noting Gov. Charles W. Turnbull's sacking at the start of the week of Health Commissioner Wilbur K. Callender.
First runner-up honors went to the Mighty Pat (Samuel Ferdinand), a Crucian calypsonian who took the St. Thomas title twice a decade ago. The crowd came in with enthusiasum on the chorus of his song complaining of V.I. Carnival Committee members making money off the annual event. "Get rid of them!" hundreds belted back to his lead-ins to the phrase.
This year's second runner-up was Patricia Ragguette, also from St. Croix, performing as Pat Raggey. The only other former V.I. Carnival monarch in the competition was Ras Regg (Reginald Martin), who won the title in 1998, succeeding Louis Ible Jr., who retired after collecting the crown in an unprecedented four successive years.

"We had wonderful local customers who supported the store and kept us going, " said owner Kathryn Peterson. "But we did not get enough tourist customers to make it worthwhile to continue."
Sargasso’s closing comes at the end of a winter season that many downtown merchants say was surprisingly strong.
All of Sargasso’s merchandise — including such well-known brands as Flax, Go Silk, Fendi, Hanro, Stephen Dweck jewelry and Cano pre-Colombian reproductions — will go on sale, Peterson said.
Peterson moved Sargasso to Trompeter Gade last fall from Hibiscus Alley when she closed the large Coach store there that housed several boutique-like shops. She consolidated the leather goods and luggage into her Leather Shop on Main Street but set up Sargasso as a separate store.
Sargasso, which began its life in 1996 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on the East End, has been managed by Elfie Veser and Bodil Norton, both well-known for their work over the years at various downtown retail stores.

Dear Source,
I really got a kick out of the story about Gov. Turnbull firing his health commissioner for being insubordinate. From my point of view (as an insider and outsider), Gov. Turnbull should have fired Rudolph Krigger, after his testimony to the Senate that there was "no fiscal crisis" in the V.I., for being insubordinate to the people of the Virgin Islands.
With a $1.3 billion-dollar debt, to say that there is no fiscal crisis is a blatant lie and a grave disservice to the people they are supposed to represent. How long before the garbage haulers go on strike again? How much longer must the police and firefighters go on working understaffed, overworked, with antiquated supplies – all of which puts the people of the V.I. in danger? How much more will the schools deteriorate? How many private sector jobs must be lost to pay for a bloated public sector?
It was interesting to witness, once again, the unwillingness of the current administration to talk to the public, to keep them informed.
This administration has once again failed to keep its campaign promise of being open and transparent. The only thing transparent about this administration is the leaders' unwillingness to be honest with the public and deal in its best interest.
Nepotism and patronage are the battle cry of this administration. As long as family and friends are employed and overpaid, why worry about the health and welfare of the people of the Virgin Islands? As a historian, Gov. Turnbull should be cognizant of the saying "If we don't learn from the past, we are condemned to repeat it."
His actions clearly show he is willing to disregard that for the economic enrichment of his family and political supporters at the expense of the people of the V.I. If that is not the case, why does he not allow the truth to be told by the dissenting voice of those he felt qualified enough to appoint to cabinet level positions?
If the people of the V.I. knew how they were viewed by outsiders, they would be ashamed. My friends all laugh at what's going on there. And rightly so.
Scott Frank
Portland, Ore.

Jeffrey Prosser, president of Innovative Communication Corp., will be the keynote speaker at the May 15 annual meeting of the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce.
Prosser, who lives on St. Croix, owns the Virgin Islands Telephone Corp., the V.I. Daily News, St. Thomas-St. John Cable Television, St. Croix Cable Television and V.I. Community Bank, among other local companies. He has an application pending to buy nine branches of the Chase Manhattan Bank in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands.
Prosser was the subject of a controversial front-page article in the Wall Street Journal in February entitled "A guy from Nebraska Hits It Big in St. Croix But Triggers a Backlash."
The annual business meeting will begin at 11:30 a.m. Monday, May 15, at Marriott Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort. The luncheon will begin at noon and Prosser will make his remarks at 12:30 p.m.
The public and chamber members are welcome to attend. The cost for lunch is $25 for chamber members and $35 for others.
Joe Aubain, chamber executive director, asked those who plan to attend to call 776-0100 to make a reservation no later than 4 p.m. Thursday, May 11.

Jeffrey Prosser, president of Innovative Communication Corp., will be the keynote speaker at the May 15 annual meeting of the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce.
Prosser, who lives on St. Croix, owns the Virgin Islands Telephone Corp., the V.I. Daily News, St. Thomas-St. John Cable Television, St. Croix Cable Television and V.I. Community Bank, among other local companies. He has an application pending to buy nine branches of the Chase Manhattan Bank in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands.
Prosser was the subject of a controversial front-page article in the Wall Street Journal in February entitled "A guy from Nebraska Hits It Big in St. Croix But Triggers a Backlash."
The annual business meeting will begin at 11:30 a.m. Monday, May 15, at Marriott Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort. The luncheon will begin at noon and Prosser will make his remarks at 12:30 p.m.
The public and chamber members are welcome to attend. The cost for lunch is $25 for chamber members and $35 for others.
Joe Aubain, chamber executive director, asked those who plan to attend to call 776-0100 to make a reservation no later than 4 p.m. Thursday, May 11.

In what may be a case of ideal timing, the newly formed Tall Tales Theater and Arts Company will debut Friday at the Children's Parade with the floupe "Circus 2000."
Drama therapist Pamela Ethridge founded the non-profit group to help mainstream special education students. The organizational documents were just filed this week — with a bit of help from her husband, longtime St. Thomas attorney George Ethridge.
Ethridge has many years of experience working with students with special needs, both on the mainland and, for the last five years, on St. Thomas. Last year she ran a program at Peace Corps School called "Storytelling Through the Arts." This year she's "Making Sense" of the five senses through the arts. She also handles the integrated after-school arts program at Antilles School and she has worked with profoundly disabled students at the Gladys Gabriel Annex of Charlotte Amalie High School.
"The whole concept is to try to break down the barriers between the disabled and the abled children," Ethridge said.
To that end, "Circus 2000" features an integrated troupe of about 25 kids ages 5 to 17 who will ride on the float and perform on the parade route.
Actually, Ethridge said, more than 50 youngsters are involved in the project in one way or another — some helping decorate the float or paint the chac-chacs made from flamboyant pods.
Many adults have pitched in, too. One notable volunteer is Jeanne Webb, who took time off from her crafts shop at Tillett Gardens to design and help construct costumes depicting clowns, dancers and a variety of animals. Also high on Ethridge's list is Benita Martin of Gladys Gabriel School.
Ethridge said she has several corporate sponsors as well, among them Bob Lynch Trucking, Tropical Shipping, the Fruit Bowl, Cost-U-Less and Club Rhyno.
This will not be the first time that Ethridge is making a splash at Carnival. In 1996, the troupe she helped organize for the Resource Center for the Disabled took third place. One way or another, she said, she's sure she has another winner.

For only the second time, the Virgin Islands is being represented at the U.S. Fencing Association's North American Cup Youth Championships.
Jared Etsinger, 14, of The Blades Fencing Club on St. Thomas, and Jennifer Gibbud, 14, of the St. John Fencing Club, are competing in events for their age group on Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6. The competition is being held this year at the Disney Sports Center within the Disney World complex in Kissimmee, Fla.
Mark Hansen, coach and president of the St. John club and also a member of The Blades, accompanied the teenagers to the event, which is expected to attract more than 400 fencers from the United States, Canada and Mexico to compete in three age groups, with 14 being the oldest. There are separate competitions in the three weapons of fencing — the lightweight foil, the heavier epee and the still heavier saber. Etsinger and Gibbud are both competing in foil.
The first time Virgin Islands fencers took part in the North American Cup competition was two years ago, when The Blades sent Etsinger and three other fencers to Plano, Tex. Etsinger, then 12, did the best of the four, advancing to the foil semifinals before losing to the No. 1-ranked fencer in his age division. He finished 24th out of a field of 80 and was ranked 56th in the nation on that basis.
The not-for-profit Blades group was formed in 1994 and grew to attract fencers from St. John as well as St. Thomas. The St. John club was spun off as a separate organization last year.
While Etsinger has been fencing for six years, Gibbud took up the sport less than a year ago. But, according to Hansen, who trained under former St. John resident Chris Jones, an NCAA national champion fencer, and Tony Gillham, a retired University of Wisconsin coach who helped set up the USFA's National Coaches College, Gibbud "has all the right instincts. And she is aggressive."
Blades president Joyce Bolaños noted that fencers reaching the USFA's upper rankings do so by making strong showings at multiple competitions held on the mainland throughout the year.
"Our fencers have the potential to become nationally competitive," she said. "The biggest problem we have is one all youth sports groups experience here — isolation. It is very, very expensive to travel to competitions off island, and yet that is the only way that fencers can get experience and attain national and international ranking."
Bolaños also said The Blades will host its third annual fencing camp this summer, this time in collaboration with the St. John club. Tentative plans are to have two separate week-long camps at different times so that more youngsters going off island during the summer can have the chance to participate. For more information about the fencing programs, call Bolaños at 777-8708 or Hansen at 779-4550.