Abstract : JASON was tasked by the ONR to study the recent spate of whale-beaching events which have been linked to sonar exercises. The initial goal of the study was to use the current level of understanding of these events to recommend modifications of the sonar waveform as a mitigation strategy. As we learned about the subject, however, it became clear to us that this is at present an impossible task; we just do not know enough about the damage mechanism and the chain of causation for an engineering solution to the problem.