Guidelines to protect whales and dolphins from the effects of military sonar in Westcountry waters are "woefully inadequate", conservationists have said.
The warning from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society came after new research suggested that blue and beaked whales' behaviour is disturbed by simulated military sonar.
Scientists in the United States attached tracking and sound-recording tags to 17 of the mammals and then played simulated sonar sound through an underwater speaker and measured the responses.
During the experiment, the two Cuvier's beaked whales stopped hunting and "swam rapidly, silently away".
Of the blue whales, those diving for krill were found to "move away from the sound source" although those close to the surfaced showed little response.
A spokesman for the society said it was yet more evidence that cetaceans found around the UK coast needed better protection.
"Whales and dolphins live in a world of water and sound," he said. "They feed, communicate and navigate their way around using sound and so loud underwater noise from seismic activity used to find oil and gas, military exercises at sea and increases in boat traffic can all put whales and dolphins in danger, cause them to strand on coastlines, and even kill them.
"Yet, amazingly, there are currently no accepted international standards regarding noise pollution in our seas despite the fact that noise pollution has been on the agenda since the 1980s.
"Yet the ever-increasing evidence of impacts to whales and dolphins from research like this, including the recent findings into the cause of death of 26 dolphins off the coat of Cornwall in 2008, has resulted in very little movement towards effective protection in the UK.
"Current 'best practice' guidelines deal only with injury at short distances from the source and often only at the start of activities – it is assumed that animals will move away to protect themselves. They are woefully inadequate.
"We are not against military exercises or exploration for oil and gas, but these guidelines do nothing to mitigate the widespread behavioural affects that whales and dolphins are suffering with on a daily basis in the seas around us."
Earlier this year, Dr Paul Jepson, of the Institute of Zoology, concluded that "naval activities" were "the most probable, but not definitive, cause" of the mass stranding around the Percuil River, near Falmouth, in June 2008.
The findings, though, were disputed by the Royal Navy which was conducting anti-submarine warfare exercises in the area at the time.
"Even its own extensive investigation has found no evidence to show naval activity was responsible," it said.
"Naval training has taken place in the area for over 60 years and active sonar has been in use throughout that time without any similar reported mass strandings. The Royal Navy is committed to taking all reasonable and practical measures to mitigate effects on marine animals."