Navy's Sonar Program Turns Deaf Ear to Whales' Welfare - endangered species - Brief Article

Animals, Summer, 2001

The U.S. Navy and animal activists are squaring off over a new sonar system that could have deadly consequences for whales. The military has asked for an exemption from the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act so that it can use its $350 million low-frequency system. Navy officials insist the sonar system poses no substantial threat to whales or marine animals, but animal advocates hotly dispute this claim.

The move has instigated protests and promises by animal groups to render stiff resistance at National Marine Fisheries Service public hearings around the country. They question both the immediate and the long-term effects of the sonar on marine mammals, which depend on their ability to detect underwater sounds to communicate, navigate over migration routes, locate food, and care for their young.

Opponents also point to the strandings of at least 16 whales in the Bahamas after Navy tests of a higher frequency sonar system last year. Six were found to have died of internal head injuries attributed to the blasts of sound.

"It is a dangerous combination of high decibels and low frequency. Some of the most endangered species of whales hear at these frequencies," says Michael Jansy, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council, of the new sonar.

The military would deploy the low-frequency active sonar, known as Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active (SURTASS/ LFA) Sonar, in 80 percent of the world's oceans as a means of detecting quiet new breeds of enemy submarines.

A decision is expected this fall.