Judge curbs Navy sonar - Use of sonic blasts in exercises, which fleet officials argue are crucial for training, is ruled harmful to whales.
A federal judge in Los Angeles banned the U.S. Navy from using high-powered sonar in nearly a dozen upcoming training exercises off Southern California, ruling Monday that it could "cause irreparable harm to the environment."
U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper issued the preliminary injunction after rejecting the Navy's request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The lawsuit, along with a similar one filed by the California Coastal Commission, argues for broader safeguards to protect marine mammals from powerful blasts of mid-frequency active sonar that have been linked elsewhere to panicked behavior and mass die-offs of whales.
The Navy, which plans to appeal the decision, said even a temporary ban would disrupt crucial training of sailors before they are sent overseas. The Navy uses the sonar to detect potentially hostile vessels, including quiet diesel submarines, which one captain called "the most lethal enemy known" on the high seas.
"It's akin to sending a hunter into the woods after one of the most lethal preys known, but sending him in partly deaf and blind," said Navy Capt. Neil May, assistant chief of staff for 3rd Fleet training and readiness.
Over the last decade, scientists have linked mid-frequency active sonar to a number of mass strandings or panicked behavior of whales after naval exercises in the waters off Greece, Hawaii, the Bahamas and elsewhere.
In a well-documented case near the Canary Islands in 2003, an international team of scientists found that at least 10 beaked whales probably succumbed to the bends after bolting to the surface in a panic.
The dead whales washed ashore after the Spanish navy led international military exercises involving warships from the United States and other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Pathologists found tissue in the whales' internal organs that appeared to have been damaged by compressed gas bubbles bursting inside them.
Navy lawyers argued in court that mid-frequency active sonar is crucial to national security and to keeping sailors safe from attacks by enemy submarines. Unlike passive listening devices that rely on detecting sounds, mid-frequency active sonar emits bursts of sound waves that can reveal even quiet submarines.
