A RESPECTED environmentalist has issued a warning that any whale entering the Clyde is unlikely to survive following a number of deaths over the past few weeks.

At least three Northern Bottlenose Whales have now died on local shores in recent months, including at least one which visited Millport’s Kames Bay earlier in the year.

Concerns had been raised over the presence of the whales during Exercise Joint Warrior, with the military sonar seen as a huge disturbance for the creatures.

David Nairn, from Fairlie Coastal, says any animal entering the Clyde, but especially whales, are going to struggle to navigate.

He said: “There was a group of three whales and a group of two up in Loch Gare that have been seen all around the Clyde and it looks like there is only one of them left.

“They are absolutely snookered, if there is in fact another one left it might not survive for too much longer.

“People are asking why it has happened and the finger is being pointed at naval sonar out offshore from Joint Warrior.

“The underwater noise out in that part of the Clyde is horrendous, we asked the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to switch it off when the whales were about but they didn’t.”

Three were found dead recently, with two on coastlines along the Firth of Clyde, including one that rescuers had attempted to move out of the area ahead of Joint Warrior.

David believes the whales were unable to find their way back out to the sea due to sonar interference.

He explained: “The whales are just left blind and can’t see where they are going and it is believed that this lack of direction contributes to the stranding.

“They are already sick and compromised from being zapped by sonar out at sea, and then they can’t get out of the Clyde because they can’t see how to.

“It is like trying to cross a road, but somebody is flashing strobe lighting in your face."

David is pleading with the MOD to learn lessons moving forward and switch of its sonar when whales are nearby.

He said: “One was stranded around three miles from the base at Coulport and another one was not too far away from some acoustic deterrent devices in Loch Fyne.

“The whales are extremely sensitive to the frequencies these emit, and I’ve got no doubt that being near them is like being in an acoustic maze.

“Once they are in there they are basically trapped. Unless we turn them off, these animals are unlikely to ever plot their way out.

“They just don’t have access to the right food here in the Clyde and if they can’t eat they just get weaker and start to deteriorate.”