Rimpac Exercise Attracts Ten Nations

Rimpac is the largest multi-national, multi-military exercise on planet Earth, turning 21 this year. The focus? Maritime security. It’s the first Rimpac since the US navy finished an Environmental Impact Statement on the effect of mid-frequency sonar on marine mammals which includes 29 measures to minimise impact on marine life and all Rimpac participants must comply.

This year involves military units from Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Netherlands, Peru, Republic of Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. The month-long ocean exercise will see the sinking of the USS David Ray, a 31-year-old destroyer Rimpac's using for target practice and the Navy teaming up with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on an unprecedented effort to survey, tag and track marine mammals. It’s the first time such a survey is being conducted with a naval exercise of RIMPAC’s magnitude and will be conducted primarily off the Big Island’s Kona Coast.

At present, the US Navy is seeking a five-year permit to allow it to use mid-frequency sonar during training activities around the Hawaiian Islands.

NOAA has proposed a permit that "allows for incidental impacts on marine mammals, including injury or death of up to 10 animals of 10 species over the five years covered by the authorisation. If granted, the permit would cover future RIMPAC naval exercises and two-to three-day undersea warfare exercises conducted by all Navy aircraft carrier strike groups that pass through the islands on their way to the western Pacific. Since January 2007, the Navy has been employing 29 measures, approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service as exemptions allowed under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, to minimise potential for injury to marine mammals whenever it conducts mid-frequency active sonar training in Hawaii.

That agreement will expire shortly and the Navy might be required to use the level of mid-frequency sonar no higher than 145 decibels within the shallow coastal waters off Hawaii's shorelines, recommended by the state Planning Director Abbey Seth Mayer, whose office has jurisdiction over Hawaii's coastal waters, to the Pacific Fleet Environmental Office. Mayer also included all of the mitigation measures and conditions required by U.S. District Judge David Ezra, who in February limited the number of Navy undersea warfare exercises in Hawaii waters through January 2009. He also said the Navy must reduce the power of its sonar when a marine mammal is sighted within 5,000 feet, and required all warships involved in the training to have six lookouts. A Navy spokesman has disagreed with the position taken by Mayer's office.

The public has until July 23 to comment on measures proposed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency that would allow the Navy to use mid-frequency sonar during training activities around the Hawaiian Islands.