San Francisco (global-adventures.us): In an attempt to protect marine life, environmentalists sued the U.S. government over the use of sonar during naval training exercises. Steve Mashuda, an Earthjustice attorney representing the advocates, says that U.S. Navy warfare training exercises along the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington will harm dozens of protected species of marine mammals including killer whales, blue whales, humpback whales, dolphins, and porpoises, through the use of high-intensity mid-frequency sonar.
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is the target of a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California after giving the Navy a five-year permit for expanded naval activity in late 2010. "The Navy’s 
Northwest Training Range is the size of the State of California, yet not one square inch is off-limits to the most harmful aspects of naval testing and training activities,” said Zak Smith, staff attorney for NRDC. “We are asking for common-sense measures to protect the critical wildlife that lives within the training range from exposure to life-threatening effects of sonar. Biologically rich areas like the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary should be protected.” The group says that intense sound waves emitted by sonar can disorient, harm or kill endangered marine animals, including blue and killer whales.
In a decision dating back to 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sonar training exercises could be conducted without restrictions off the Southern California coast. In an effort to protect marine life, the Navy has implemented a mitigation plan for sonar use that relies primarily on visual detection of whales or other marine mammals by “watch-standers” with binoculars on the decks of ships, the advocates say. If mammals are seen in the vicinity of an exercise, the Navy is to cease sonar use.
“Visual detection can miss anywhere from 25–95% of the marine mammals in an area,” said Heather Trim, Director of Policy for People for Puget Sound. “It’s particularly unreliable in rough seas or in bad weather. We learn more every day about where whales and other mammals are most likely to be found -we want NMFS to put that knowledge to use to ensure that the Navy’s training avoids those areas when marine mammals are most likely there.”
The groups say that the litigation is not intended to halt the Navy’s exercises, but asks the Court to require NMFS to reassess the permits using the latest science and to order the Navy to stay out of biologically critical areas at least at certain times of the year.
In an effort to protect marine life, environmental groups filed a lawsuit to restrict the use of sonar during U.S. Navy warfare training exercises in biological rich areas. Photo: NOAA/Public Domain
