Current Events: What killed these whales?

The whales have been a lot of issues lately, first sunburn and now the bodies of 33 whales washed ashore on Rutland Island on the northwest coast of Ireland. It is one of the biggest mass whale deaths in Ireland ever and environmentalists are still stumped over what could have killed these whales. Experts are running tests on these deep-diving pilot whales and have found that these whales were dead very much before they reached the shore. Some say they might have died from illness after a deadly storm hit. People are pointing fingers at the Royal Navy because one theory is that their sonar equipment damaged they whales hearing. First piece of evidence that needs to be collected is whether the group of whales spotted of Scotland's South Uist coast a week ago are they same that have just been beached.Since the whales spotted in Scotland were being monitored by the British Divers Marine but went off the radars after a storm made them impossible to track. These types of things are not always rare on the Irish coast. Yet this time environmentalists are very concerned with the fact that this might have something to do with the Royal Navy using sonar equipment that might have caused this mass death. Sonar equipment with low-frequency can emit a noise which can sound as loud as a jumbo jet taking off This can damage a whales hearing severely. This is bad becasue whales rely on their hearing to care for their young, follow migratory routes and find food sources. So this means it is impossible for them to live if their hearing is damaged. Yet this is not old news, studies have shown that due to sonar equipment not only whales but also dolphins have been affected. There are many reasons these whales could've died but the most important thing is preventing it from happening again.
I chose this article becasue I think whales have been the focus of many problems when it comes to the interaction between them and us. Meaning we are profoundly effecting them with our habits. This is important because the whales we lose cannot be replaced naturally as fast as they die unnaturally meaning this could effect the food chain or Eco system in that area. I think that this ties into our unit that we are finishing up which is all about Eco systems and how small things effect the bigger picture. I think the best way to prevent whale mortality is to not use the sonar equipment in areas which have whales in them.