Origininal post March 22, 2000 -- After eight whales beached and died following a U.S. Navy anti-submarine exercise near the Bahamas, marine biologists and officials have launched an investigation.

On Tuesday, Naval officials said there is no evidence linking the whale deaths to March 15's sonar detection exercises.

Earthwatch marine biologist Ken Balcomb said the whale beachings began on March 15, and by March 17, more than 14 whales had beached themselves on Abaco, Grand Bahama and Eleuthera. Eight whales died.

"A whale beaching in the Bahamas is a once-in-a-decade occurrence," Balcomb told the Associated Press. "The fact that it coincides with the military exercises cannot be just coincidental."

The Navy denies the correlation, and says it will continue its underwater sonar tests.

Naomi Rose of the Washington's Humane Society of the United States said the Naval signals could still do damage.

"These signals, depending on frequency, could travel quite a distance and could even wrap around the island," said Rose, a marine mammal scientist. "One could argue that they fled the area where the sonar was being transmitted."

However, marine experts point out that no research has been able to conclusively link man-made noise to events such as the whale beachings.