Putting Whales First
The U.S. Navy has been temporarily barred by a federal court from using “mid-frequency active sonar” to detect diesel submarines in practice exercises off the California coast.The ruling came in a suit by environmentalists claiming the sonar injures vulnerable marine mammals, even though the judge found there was no evidence–or conflicting evidence she couldn’t evaluate–regarding such injuries … or even the presence of whales at all.
But the “lack of documented evidence of the disturbance, injury, or even death of marine mammals in a particular geographic area does little to prove that MFA sonar never caused such adverse effects,” the judge concluded.
The Navy plans to appeal. “Today, dozens of countries–including North Korea and Iran–have extremely quiet diesel-electric submarines, and more than 180 of them operate in the Pacific,” said Vice Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of the U.S. 3rd Fleet. “Active sonar is the best system we have to detect and track them.” Apparently, real submarines are not as important as imaginary whales.
Sources: Kenneth R. Weiss, “Judge bans Navy from using sonar off Southern California, Federal jurist backs activists, saying use during training exercises off Southern California could harm whales,” Los Angeles Times, August 7, 2007; Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Winter, 8:07-cv-00335-FMC-FMOx, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57909 (2007)