Decade after whale deaths, Lumley left shocked by lack of action
Actress and campaigner Joanna Lumley has said she is "shocked and disappointed" by the Government's lack of progress in dealing with old wartime explosives at sea, almost a decade on from the death of 19 whales.
The Absolutely Fabulous star spoke out at the same time as a diver recalled the incident in 2011 in which 39 pilot whales becamestrandedatkyleofdurness, in the north of Scotland, a day after three explosions at nearby Cape Wrath.
The disorientated creatures were spotted in the shallow waters, and while rescuers managedtogetsomeofthepod back out to sea, 19 of them died after becoming stranded.
Lumley told how the mammals had died in "traumatic conditions"afterbeing"washed up on the beaches".
Sheadded:"withmosthorrific mass strandings of this kind, it is quite difficult to know the cause. But in this instance, a government report found that munitions disposal operations conducted in the vicinity of the Kyle of Durness the day before and during the mass stranding event(mse)wastheonlyexternal event with the potential to cause the MSE."
Lumley raised the issue at a meeting with UK Environment Secretarygeorgeeustice,complaining that the "treacle-like morass of inter-government department bureaucracy" was holding up action.
The actress, who is a spokeswoman for the Stop Sea Blasts campaign, is calling for an end to high-order unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearances at sea.
She said: "It seems crazy to methatwearestillusingworld War Two techniques to clear World War Two bombs when our modern era has given us modern techniques that cost the same and are enormously more kind to the environment and sea life."
Lumleyadded:"myheartgoes out to the volunteers who were part of the rescue effort on that awfuldayandarenowspeaking outsobravelyabouttheirexperiences.tenyearson,itisfrankly shocking and disappointing how little progress has been made to deal with underwater ordnance clearance.
"Despite a positive meeting with the Secretary of State and his no doubt good intentions I have to confess that I am disappointed that the Government appearstobetrappedinthetreacle-like morass of inter-government department bureaucracy rather than just cracking on with what to most people looks like a common-sense solution.
"They appear to be saying that there won't be any real progress until 2022 which means more harm is likely to be inflicted on more of our sea creatures."
Hercommentscameasjamie Dyer, a rescue diver at the Kyle of Durness incident 10 years ago,toldhowwhalesofdifferent ages from part of a pod became stranded.
He recalled: "We had all facets of this pod here, older males and females, sub-adults, an unweaned calf. Whales were blowing sand through blowholes which quickly turns to
internal bleeding, which then automatically rules out the chance of a refloat.
"This, along with the
unweaned calf, was one of the most heart-breaking rescues I have been involved in as we couldn't locate the
mother so it was not viable to refloat."