| Navy releases marine impact study
The US Navy for the first time has released a massive study that examines the potential collateral damage to wildlife when training sailors to use sonar, drop bombs and fire missiles. It comes after judges repeatedly ruled that the Navy failed to do a proper assessment on how to protect whales and dolphins from sonar used to look for submarines.
The Navy has stuck with its own safeguards to avoid harming marine mammals, and has not adopted those imposed on this year's exercises, such as keeping sonar-emitting ships at least 12 nautical miles off the coast. Marine mammals are particularly abundant in California coastal waters and include gray whales that migrate through the area twice each year.
The Navy worked with the National Marine Fisheries Service to establish its own set of safety measures which include posting lookouts on the bridges of ships to spot marine mammals, reducing the power of sonar when whales are spotted within 1,000 yards, and shutting sonar down when an animal comes within 200 yards. However sonar, the Marine Connection feels should be shut down at 2,000 yards.
The report estimates Navy training exercises could expose 94,370 marine mammals each year to sonar frequencies loud enough to alter their behavior, potentially injuring or killing as many as 30 marine mammals, including two gray whales, one blue whale, one sperm whale, 11 dolphins and 15 harbor seals. The Navy's computer models show that 817 marine mammals would be hit with pressure from underwater blasts from explosives. Of those, 36 would suffer slight injuries, and 12, mostly dolphins and sea lions would probably be severely injured or killed.
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