Locals can’t place what they are hearing from the Arctic sea while animals in the area seem disturbed by it.
For months now, residents of Nunavut Canada has been hearing unfamiliar pinging sounds from the Arctic sea. Military personnel has been dispatched near the area to look for clues.
According to reports, the sound seems to have originated from the bottom of a strip of a channel called the Hecla and Fury Strait. It is found in Nunavut, a Canadian territory lying across a major portion of the Canadian Arctic. This territory is the biggest (by land area) yet it’s the least inhabited with merely 31,906 residents.
Locals live on hunting reindeer as well as seals and whales mostly found in the open waters of Hecla and Fury Strait where the animals feed most of the time.
However, according to local hunters, no animals have been spotted feeding in the area this summer. It is as if they have looked for other areas to feed. It was also observed that this happened at the time when the pinging sounds were first heard from the Arctic sea.
According to a government representative, whales, and seals pass along this Strait when it’s time to migrate. But this summer, they had skipped this passage. For the local hunters, it’s baffling and alarming at the same time.
So far, no one could offer a valid explanation yet on these occurrences. Some assume a conspiracy of sorts while others are pointing their fingers at a mining firm operating in Baffin Island, northeast of the territory. They believe that the firm had lodged a sonar equipment into the Arctic waters as part of their operations.
Still, others blamed it on an environmental group, which reportedly planted a sonar device into the sea to protect wildlife from hunters.
This year, the state of California had issued a ruling, stating that sonar devices employed by the US Navy for training purposes are harmful to dolphins, whales, and walruses. These animals depend on sound waves when moving about.
Marine mammal experts remind that people should be aware that a sound is a navigational tool among certain sea animals. Sounds are used by some sea creatures to communicate, seek mates, and hunt food.
Pinging or humming sounds from unnatural sources within the seafloor could hinder these activities. For this reason, Canada’s military are actively checking this occurrence.
If any of the suspicions are true, including their negative effect on locals’ livelihood and sea animals as well, then government must assess the situation and resolve it before any major harm is done.
