Navy sonar exempt from whale law

Navy sonar exempt from whale law

THE Pentagon has exempted the US Navy overnight for six months from a law protecting whales and other marine mammals, a move that may allow planned naval exercises using military sonar to proceed despite a lawsuit.
The exemption allows the Navy to conduct the 13 exercises it plans over the next six months without seeking permission for each under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
The exemption is allowed under law, but it was the first time the Pentagon had used that authority. The Defence Department may renew the Navy's exemption for up to two years.
Navy Deputy Assistant Secretary Donald Schregardus said the exemption was a response to a lawsuit filed by a coalition of environmental groups led by the Natural Resources Defence Council over the use of sonar that they say injures and kills whales and other marine animals.
That lawsuit is still pending, and a trial date could be set as early as Monday, Mr Schregardus said.

The environmental groups argue that sonar used in routine training and testing violates laws. The suit accuses the Navy of failing to take precautions that could spare marine animals injury or death.
The groups said they plan to pursue the lawsuit despite the Pentagon's action. They said the Navy is also in violation of another law – the National Environmental Policy Act.
"This is an historic and unprecedented retreat by the U.S. Navy from our national commitment to protect whales, dolphins and other marine life," said Joel Reynolds, a senior attorney at the National Resources Defence Council, of the exemption.
"It's not that the Navy can't comply with the law; it's that the Navy chooses not to."
The group says the exemption shows the Pentagon knows its use of military sonar does not comply with federal law.
Navy officials, however, said they set tough standards to protect marine mammals during a recent sea, air and land exercise, and that those standards would be met in the upcoming exercises as well.
The Navy remains subject to requirements under two other laws – the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.
Permitting under the Marine Mammal Protection Act can take as long as eight months. The Navy can obtain permits under the other two environmental laws within weeks, Mr Schregardus said.
The exemption, he said, will allow the Navy to proceed with its planned exercises and give it time to work with regulatory agencies on a long-term plan to put all Navy ranges and operating areas in compliance with environmental laws.
"The Navy will continue to employ stringent mitigation measures to protect marine mammals during all sonar activities, to include habitat controls, safety zones around ships, trained lookouts, extra precautions during chokepoint exercises, in coordination with National Marine Fisheries Service," said Rear Adm. James Symonds, director of environmental readiness.
Earlier this week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal agency, granted the Navy permission to proceed with naval exercises off Hawaii, finding the use of sonar in those activities was not likely to threaten endangered species and would have no significant impact on the environment.

Sonar Ban Proves Effective

Sonar Ban Proves Effective

By MINDELL SMALL, Guardian Staff Reporter
mindell@nasguard.com

Whale beachings in the Canary Islands have ceased after the Spanish government outlawed sonar testing in that territory, said Susan Millward, a marine science expert at the International Ocean Noise Coalition.
Ms Millward was making the case against sonar testing at a press conference on Sunday along with Dr Marsha Greene, president and founder of the Ocean Mammal Institute.
The two women are in The Bahamas to shed more light on the effects of sonar, which has been blamed for the deaths of five whales in Bahamian waters between February and April. Whale beachings had been a major problem in the Canary Islands since 1985, peaking at 24 during 1989. But when the Spanish government enacted a law in 2004, banning sonar testing within 50 miles of the Canary Islands, the beachings stopped, Millard said.
Dr Green added that the European parliament also passed a resolution in 2004 for the immediate cessation of the use of high intensity sonar in the region's waters.
"We're certainly working at the international level," said Dr Green, "and that's why I think it's important for your country to get involved at the international level, because there is going to be increasing pressure from the international community to protect the oceans from intense ocean noise."
"The regional seas agreement come under the UN (United Nations) and we've been working at the UN for a number of years now," she added. "And we finally have gotten the UN General Assembly to recognise ocean noise as an issue that needs to be studied more."
A number of Andros residents have blamed the whale beachings on that island (three out of the five) on sonar testing conducted at the U.S. military base (AUTEC) in Fresh Creek. However, Deputy Chief of Missions at the US Embassy, Dr Brent Hardt said that conclusion could not be drawn scientifically.
But Dr Greene said while she was doing research on the effects of engine noise on whales, she found that the US navy was going to test a kind of sonar called "low frequency active sonar" (LFA) on the humpback whales in Hawaii.
"And I knew it was very much louder than the engine noise so I knew it would have harmful effects," said Dr Green who had been working on the issue since 1998. "Low frequency active sonar ping in the Pacific Ocean from one vessel could be heard over the entire North Pacific Ocean," she added.

http://www.thenassauguardian.net/national_local/292708977934340.php