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View Full Version : US Navy limits 'whale-harming' sonar in Pacific



Captain Obvious
09-14-2015, 09:26 PM
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34252058


he US Navy has agreed to limit its use of sonar that may inadvertently harm whales and dolphins in waters near Hawaii and California.

A federal judge in Honolulu signed the deal between the Navy and environmental groups on Monday.

It restricts or bans the use of mid-frequency active sonar and explosives used in training exercises.

Campaigners say that sonar disrupts the feeding of marine mammals, and can even cause deafness or death.

An explosives training exercise in San Diego four years ago killed four dolphins, Earthjustice lawyer David Henkin said when announcing the agreement.

He said the deal means:

The Navy cannot use sonar in a well-known habitat for beaked whales between Santa Catalina Island and San Nicolas Island
Sonar is banned in a blue whale feeding area near San Diego
Sonar and explosives training is banned on the eastern side of the Big Island in Hawaii
The number of major training exercises between Maui and the Big Island will be set
Any injuries or deaths will be investigated by the National Marine Fisheries Service

The hope, said Mr Henkin, is that these safe havens will bring down the number of injuries and deaths to marine wildlife.

Common
09-14-2015, 09:42 PM
hmm I didnt know sonar hurt dolphins

waltky
07-17-2016, 09:57 AM
Navy loses sonar case in appeals court...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/smilies/icon_thumbsup.gif
Federal Appeals Court Rejects Navy Sonar-Use Rules
Jul 16, 2016 -- A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the U.S. Navy was wrongly allowed to use sonar that could harm whales and other marine life.


The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision upholding approval granted in 2012 for the Navy to use low-frequency sonar for training, testing and routine operations. The five-year approval covered peacetime operations in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea. The appellate panel sent the matter back to the lower court for further proceedings. A message seeking comment from representatives of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Honolulu was not immediately returned. Sonar, used to detect submarines, can injure whales, seals, dolphins and walruses and disrupt their feeding and mating.

The 2012 rules adopted by the National Marine Fisheries Service permitted Navy sonar use to affect about 30 whales and two dozen pinnipeds, marine mammals with front and rear flippers such as seals and sea lions, each year. The Navy was required to shut down or delay sonar use if a marine mammal was detected near the ship. Loud sonar pulses also were banned near coastlines and in certain protected waters. Environmental groups, led by the Natural Resources Defense Council, filed a lawsuit in San Francisco in 2012, arguing that the approval violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act.


http://images.military.com/media/global/newscred/orca-whale-sonar-1200-16-jul-2016-ts600.jpeg
An endangered female orca leaps from the water while breaching in Puget Sound west of Seattle, as seen from a federal research vessel that had been tracking the whales

The appellate court ruled 3-0 that the approval rules failed to meet a section of the protection act requiring peacetime oceanic programs to have "the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammals." "We have every reason to believe that the Navy has been deliberate and thoughtful in its plans to follow NMFS guidelines and limit unnecessary harassment and harm to marine mammals," the appellate ruling said.

However, the panel concluded that the fisheries service "did not give adequate protection to areas of the world's oceans flagged by its own experts as biologically important," according to a summary accompanying the court's decision. "The result is that a meaningful proportion of the world's marine mammal habitat is under-protected," according to the decision.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/07/16/federal-appeals-court-rejects-navy-sonar-use-rules.html

Chloe
07-17-2016, 01:10 PM
Practices like this type of sonar use as well as the indiscriminate shooting into the oceans and using explosives in the water which result in the deaths, injuries, and stress of ocean life need to stop and/or have much more oversight and precautions.

MisterVeritis
07-17-2016, 01:45 PM
Practices like this type of sonar use as well as the indiscriminate shooting into the oceans and using explosives in the water which result in the deaths, injuries, and stress of ocean life need to stop and/or have much more oversight and precautions.
And let's hope it does not result in losing naval battles in the Pacific.

Chloe
07-17-2016, 02:11 PM
And let's hope it does not result in losing naval battles in the Pacific.

Are we currently at war in the pacific?

MisterVeritis
07-17-2016, 02:39 PM
Are we currently at war in the pacific?
If we cannot use the systems we build for winning wars during peacetime for training we will lose ships, men, and women, that we did not have to. Do you understand that?

It is almost as if liberals believe the world is a benign place.

Chloe
07-17-2016, 03:10 PM
If we cannot use the systems we build for winning wars during peacetime for training we will lose ships, men, and women, that we did not have to. Do you understand that?

It is almost as if liberals believe the world is a benign place.

We'll be fine, but the wildlife we are killing and damaging will not be.

maineman
07-17-2016, 05:04 PM
active sonars are a mixed blessing as far as sensors are concerned. They can be heard from a lot further away than the can detect. Airborne ASW assets and friendly attack submarines operating with carrier battle groups offer better enemy submarine detection options, imo.

I have never seen any data that shows that active sonar is harmful to whales, but I know it doesn't bother dolphins very much as all...they playfully swim alongside pinging destroyers all the time.

Chloe
07-17-2016, 05:08 PM
active sonars are a mixed blessing as far as sensors are concerned. They can be heard from a lot further away than the can detect. Airborne ASW assets and friendly attack submarines operating with carrier battle groups offer better enemy submarine detection options, imo.

I have never seen any data that shows that active sonar is harmful to whales, but I know it doesn't bother dolphins very much as all...they playfully swim alongside pinging destroyers all the time.

you aren't looking hard enough, or you're just looking at what you want to see.