NATO’s Advanced ASW Exercise DYNAMIC MANTA-2020 kicks off in Sicily/slaughter in progress ! (Italia)

Stranded dead mother at Kastri, Heraklion, SE Crete on 3/4/2014.

February 24^th, 2020 (Dorian Archus). NATO exercise Dynamic Manta (DYMA20) began today Feb. 24, off the coast of Sicily, NATO Maritime Command (MARCOM) has announced via official website. Ships, submarines, aircraft and personnel from 9 Allied nations are converging in the Central Mediterranean Sea for advance anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and anti-surface warfare (ASuW) training.

Five Submarines from France, Greece, Italy and Turkey under NATO Submarine Command are to join surface nine ships from Canada, France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Turkey.

“NATO’s annual anti-submarine-warfare exercise Dynamic Manta remains one of the most challenging exercises and an excellent opportunity for NATO nations’ naval forces to practice and evaluate their anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare skillset in a challenging environment.” said Rear Admiral Andrew Burcher, Commander NATO Submarines. “This exercise is a unique opportunity to enhance naval forces’ war fighting skills in all dimensions of anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare in a multinational and multi-threat environment”.

As the host nation, Italy is to provide operational and logistic support to the exercise. The support includes Catania harbour facilities, naval helicopter base in Catania, naval air station in Sigonella, logistic support including refueling operations, medical assistance and personnel accommodation from Augusta naval base.

“Exercises today seize opportunities for NATO and Allied nations to sharpen warfighting skills by focusing on high-end capabilities including Anti-Submarine Warfare. Dynamic Manta will ensure we remain prepared for operations in peace, crisis and conflict.” said Vice Admiral Keith Blount, Commander, Allied Maritime Command. “With this regard, I appreciate the outstanding host nation support of the Italian Navy and those nations that have contributed forces. Dynamic Manta will, I am certain, be a highly effective exercise”.

To support the simulated multi-threat environment, maritime patrol aircrafts from Canada, Germany, France, Turkey and the United States and shore-based helicopters from Italy and United Kingdom will support the exercise.

Exercise Dynamic Manta is to provide all participants with complex and challenging warfare training, to enhance their interoperability and proficiency in anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare skills, with due regard to safety.

Each surface ship will have the opportunity to conduct a variety of submarine warfare operations. The submarines will take turns hunting and being hunted, closely coordinating their efforts with the air and surface participants.

NOTAM (Notice to airmen) area for the exercise (image: Desk Aeronautico

Important (Alexandros Frantzis Scientific director Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute) :

According to the above article, 9 Allied nations are converging in the Central Mediterranean Sea (almost the entire Ionian Sea) for advance

anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and anti-surface warfare (ASuW) training.

That means that military sonar will be used, in areas inhabited by Cuvier’s beaked whales, and very close to areas where several previous atypical mass strandings have occurred. Four atypical mass strandings (1996, 1997, 2011, 2014) and one live stradning (2000) have occurred in the past during the use of military sonar along the Hellenic Trench (Greek coasts), and some more along the Italian coasts.

Most of the participating nations (France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Turkey) are members of ACCOBAMS. ACCOBAMS has repeatedly urged for avoiding habitats of Cuviers beaked whales while designing such exercises and has mapped critical areas for the species in the Mediterranean Sea. The Hellenic Trench is probably the most important hotspot for this species according to this maps, it is a proposed MPA by ACCOBAMS and more recently was the first area to be listed as IMMA (Important Marine Mammal Area) at the global scale for both its sperm whale and Cuvier’s beaked whale population units. Although the published map (Notice to airmen) of the current military activity does not include the Hellenic Trench (Italy is the hosting country and no precise geographical info is available about the military sonar use), previous military sonar use in the Ionian Italian coasts provoked a mass stranding in both the Italian and the Greek coasts (mainly in Corfu and western Greece in 2011).

We cannot know how important the damage will be this time and if the way that sonar will be used will send impacted whales to the Ionian coasts or make them sink and disappear in deep waters. With this message we wish :

1) To inform the cetological community

2) To alert local stranding networks in the Ionian coasts, so that they are ready to respond in case of stranding events

3) To let all the concerned parties, national and international, know that a major old environmental problem remains still unresolved and keeps impacting critical areas of threaten cetacean species.

 

Ed Sibylline : at the same time, during a franco-italian summit, French president Emmanuel Macron called the battle for biodiversity and climate change “the fight of the century”…

and signed an agreement for a more efficient destruction…

 “We welcome this intergovernmental agreement, which reinforces our joint-venture Naviris. We are delighted to be able to count on the support of both the Italian and French governments together with the Navies of our two countries to carry out our mission effectively”, declared Hervé Guillou and Giuseppe Bono, CEOs of Naval Group and Fincantieri respectively.

 

destruction to continue…

U.S. Navy Implicated in New Mass Stranding of Whales (Greece) (link)

More dolphins die in Aegean Sea ; group suspects navy drills (Greece) (link)

See comments in this article : NATO’s Naval Exercises Massacre Whales in Crete (link)

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