Right whales could face sonar threat

Right whales that frequent Florida waters may be threatened by recently approved US Navy sonar projects. Approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Navy’s plan will include training in the right whales’ natural habitat along the Eastern Seaboard.

The Navy hopes to locate an anti-submarine warfare training range on 75 miles off the north Florida coast but this could pose a huge threat to the already endangered right whales. Up until now it has been mainly entanglement in fishing lines that have caused concern for these marine mammals but the Navy’s project now raises new concerns, especially during the whales’ breeding period between October and April. Some of the whales come within a quarter of a mile from the beach just south of St. Augustine, Florida. Some active sonar can disrupt whale feeding patterns and in the most extreme cases can kill the animals .