NOAA may prohibit Navy sonar testing at marine mammal 'hot spots'

Marine mammal "hot spots" in areas including Southern California's coastal waters may become off limits to testing of a type of Navy sonar linked to the deaths of whales under a plan announced this week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NOAA also called for development of a system for estimating the "comprehensive sound budget for the oceans," which could help reduce human sources of noise -- vessel traffic, sonar and construction activities -- that degrade the environment in which sound-sensitive species communicate.

The plans were revealed in a letter from NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco to the White House Council on Environmental Quality. In the letter, Lubchenco said her goal is to reduce adverse effects on marine mammals resulting from the Navy's training exercises.

Environmentalists contend that sonar has a possibly deafening effect on marine mammals. Studies around the world have shown the piercing underwater sounds cause whales to flee in panic or to dive too deeply. Whales have been found beached in Greece, the Canary Islands and the Bahamas after sonar was used in the area. Necropsies showed signs of bleeding in the ears.

Michael Jasny, senior policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the plans were prompted by rules developed during the final days of the Bush administration that allow Navy sonar testing and training along the Atlantic Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, around Hawaii and the waters off Southern California through 2013.

"The Navy's Southern California range is over 120,000 nautical miles in size -- about the size of California itself," Jasny said. "The Bush administration did not put a square mile of this vast area off limits to sonar."

"The big question now," he added, "is whether the Obama administration has the will to actually bring about a proper balance between national security and environmental protection."

-- Louis Sahagun

Photo: Beaked whales off the coast of San Pedro, CA. Credit:Pete Thomas/LA Times

Comments

[Linda Way]

Its always easier to conduct business as usual in our oceans, after all they clean up themselves, don' t they? Everything sinks to the bottom. And then its gone from sight. When are the military high ups going to learn that we need to leave well enough alone? The oil in the gulf isn't enough, whales beaching themselves, because they are delicate creatures, large but delicate nonetheless, Sonar works. Bullets work, bombs work, defoligents work, all these things work, they work to kill the enemy, kill the environment, kill the air, water, all living things, when there is no place to go because everywhere has been poisoned, where do we grow food? Where do we go to have our children? Where do we live?

[Carolyn Heitman]

The Navy wants to use the same type of sonar testing in Alaska starting December 2010 through December 2015 (December 2009 Gulf of Alaska Draft EIS/OEIS). The Navy has been having training exercises('Northern Edge') in the Gulf of Alaska for several years but said so far no mid-fequency active sonar has been used, although the public does not know how much hazardous materials have been released into Alaska waters. NOAA/National Marine Fisheries is now taking public comments until March 5th on the Navy's permit application to use mid-frequency active sonar in the Gulf of Alaska. Navy training will include bombing and gunnery exercises, sinking exercises using old ships(SINKEX),the release of hazardous materials into the Gulf of Alaska---torpedos, metals from sonobuoys, leaching of bomb materials, polyvinyl chloride plastics, lithium sulfer dioxide batteries, lead solder, copper wire, lead ballast that can over time release into the ocean, ammonium perchlorate from explosives, pyrotechnics, chaff-- made of fine hair-like particles of fiberglass and aluminum and can stay in the air from 2-12 hours, phosperous (poisoness to fish and humans if it gets in water supplies). At the same time the Navy is applying to NOAA for a permit to train in the Gulf of Alaska, it also is applying to do the same type of training exercises off the Georgia coast

[Edward Oberweiser]

The harm that will be done by the Navy to the ocean environment is completely unacceptable.

It will disrupt the Gray Whale migration for ten years here in the Pacific Northwest and even more thoroughly poison the Pacific Ocean.

Most of the Earth's oxygen comes from the Ocean. If we kill the life of the Oceans, it will kill all oxygen breathing life on Earth. We cannot even conceive of doing this.

Ed Oberweiser
Ocean Protection Coalition,
Foundation of Sustainable Living

[S Serrano]

These are actually Common Dolphins, not Beaked Whales.

[David Martin]

Why yes, we need to hurry up and limit the navy from testing the equipment it will need in the event of a war. How dare the navy put even one whale's life in danger just to make sure that its equipment works correctly. It is far better to have a ship full of sailors be sunk in war with no survivors, because its equipment was never fully tested, than to harm a poor animal that has no clue whats going on around it. By all means we should strive to repeat the torpedo fiasco that happened in WW2 because the equipment was not fully tested under real world conditions. This time instead of cost being the reason people died it will be a marine mammal that would have just ended up in the food chain a little later anyway.

[iescience]

This is huge news, and a long time in the making! See a related post on sonar and strandings at http://www.iescience.com/blog/2009/12/sonar-and-strandings.

[Rosalind Peterson]

January 23, 2010

It is now time to put limits on the U.S. Navy Warfare Testing programs in the Pacific, Atlantic, and the Gulf of Mexico.

The NWTRC (Northwest Training Range Complex) covers Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Northern California. The Navy intends to use sonar in these areas as well. If there are concerns about the use of sonar in Southern California then there should be concerns with its usage the Pacific Ocean along the entire coastline of these states.

The Navy Warfare Testing programs also include bomb blasts both above and below the ocean surface, toxic chemical usage, mid and high range frequency sonar, underwater detonations, underwater construction, and future warfare testing which will take place over land and ocean areas.

Please go to www.nwtrangecomplexeis.com and click on documents. You will find the Navy Environmental Impact Statement and can read the information about their plans at this Navy site. In addition, Congressmen Waxman and Thompson, and all the Oregon Senators, including Senator Boxer have confirmed that 11.7 million marine mammals will be harmed by the Navy's Warfare Testing in a letter - 2009. And they have confirmed that testing will be conducted in marine mammals sanctuaries and other sensitive areas like breeding habitats.

The testing is underway in Southern California, Hawaii, the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. And it is soon to be extended to Northern California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. It is time for U.S. Congressional Hearings and a ban on using sonar along the California and Oregon coastlines.

Please note that fish, marine life, and human health are not protected during these programs. The fishing industry will also be harmed by these programs.

It is time to protect the Pacific Ocean from redundant warfare testing which is now taking place in the Atlantic, Pacific, and the Gulf of Mexico by both the U.S. Navy (and the U.S. Air Force in the Gulf of Mexico).

Respectfully,

Rosalind Peterson
Agriculture Defense Coalition

[Bob]

Obama better put an end to the Navy madness.

[JEff]

good.