Time to choose: whales, or US national security?

5 years ago Nature

In the US there are fears that the use of sonar equipment is having an adverse effect on whales. Environmental campaigners have traced a problem of disorientated, stranded whales back to noise pollution from sonar. The Inter-agency Committee on Marine Science and Technology (ICMST) has identified 13 cases of strandings by whales and dolphins that appeared to be linked to noise, adding that most of the cases involved naval vessels.

Humpback whale beached off the coast of Massachussetts

Campaigners gained a success on Friday when a federal judge ruled against the Navy using sonar equipment off the coast of California during training until the end of 2009. However, the Navy are appealing the decision with Third Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Samuel Locklear claiming that the injunction “potentially puts American lives and our national security at risk”.

The appeal will be heard on the 18th of July.

Written by: Maryking

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ShaneTuck says

Aug 9th, 2007 at 12am
Hello, My name is Petty Officer Shane Tuck, and I have some information on the Navy's perspective on this issue. The Navy issued the following release regarding the court decision: Aug. 6, 2007 Court halts Navy’s ability to train realistically off Southern California SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Navy officials say they are deeply concerned by today’s federal court ruling that prohibits the Navy from training realistically before deploying Sailors and Marines potentially into harm’s way. A U.S. district judge in Los Angeles granted a preliminary injunction -- requested by the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental and animal protection groups -- that bars the Navy from using active sonar during critical joint task force training exercises and composite training unit exercises through 2009 in the ocean off Southern California. “We are disappointed in the court’s decision and plan to appeal the imposition of an injunction,” said Mr. Don Schregardus, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for the environment. “The decision puts Sailors and Marines at risk by ordering the Navy to stop critical anti-submarine warfare training while we complete Environmental Impact Statements on our training ranges.” Vice Adm. Samuel Locklear, the San Diego-based commander of the U.S. Third Fleet who oversees naval training in the Eastern Pacific, said, “To the extent this court decision prevents us from using active sonar, it potentially puts American lives and our national security at risk.” The Navy has conducted similar exercises in the Southern California Operating Area for 70 years and has used similar active sonar technology for the past 40 years. “In all those years, not a single stranding or injury of a marine mammal has been associated with the Navy’s use of MFA sonar in the Southern California Operating Area,” Locklear said. Read full article at http://www.cpf.navy.mil/news_images/0708/070806a.html For more information, I recommend viewing http://www.whalesandsonar.navy.mil/