Note: the suit mentioned below did temporarily halt the sonar.
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Navy Will Be Sued to Stop Illegal Sonar in Massive Hawaiian
War Games, High-Intensity Sonar Needlessly Threatens
Marine Mammals &Other Species Near President's New
Underwater National Monument

snipurl.com/sk05
originally:
www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin...rint.cgi

LOS ANGELES -- June 28, 2006 -- Conservation groups intend to file a federal
lawsuit today to stop the U.S. Navy from illegally using high-intensity sonar,
which is deadly to whales, during an eight-nation naval exercise that began
Monday in a 210,000 square-mile area around Hawaii. The exercise area comprises
some of the richest marine habitat in the United States, including waters
near the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, created just two
weeks ago by President Bush.

The lawsuit by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and other groups
will challenge a last-minute authorization granted yesterday by the National
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) allowing the Navy to "take" as many as 25,000
protected marine mammals by blasting high-intensity, mid-frequency sonar during
the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise. "Take" is a legal term
meaning to harass, hunt, capture or kill.

"It is absurd to designate an area a Marine National Monument one week, and
then authorize the Navy to threaten endangered whales and other marine mammals
in the region with high-intensity sonar the next," said Joel Reynolds, a
senior attorney at NRDC and director of its Marine Mammal Protection Project. "It
is possible for the Navy to train effectively without needlessly inflicting
harm on marine life, and that is exactly what federal law requires."

The suit will seek a temporary order restraining use of high-intensity,
mid-frequency sonar during the exercise unless effective measures are taken to
prevent harm to marine life. Although the exercise has begun, sonar activity
during RIMPAC 2006 is not scheduled to begin until next week.

Whales exposed to high-intensity mid-frequency sonar have repeatedly stranded
and died on beaches around the world, some bleeding around the brain and in
the ears, with severe lesions in their organ tissue. At lower intensities,
sonar can interfere with the ability of marine mammals to navigate, avoid
predators, find food, care for their young, and, ultimately, to survive. There is no
scientific dispute that intense sonar blasts can disturb, injure, and even kill
marine mammals.

Whales, dolphins and other marine mammals have extraordinarily sensitive
hearing, and mid-frequency sonar can emit continuous sound well above 235
decibels, an intensity millions of times stronger than exposures that have killed some
species of whales. A recent report by NMFS said that sonar was a "plausible,
if not likely" cause of a mass stranding of 150 melon-headed whales during
RIMPAC 2004.

The Navy has resisted precautions for mid-frequency sonar use during RIMPAC
2006 despite repeated efforts by outside groups. Such measures include
exclusion zones in protected marine areas; reduced sonar intensity at night and in
channels where the risk to marine mammals is greatest; implementing the same
expanded 'safety zone' around ships that some allied navies use; and effectively
monitoring for marine mammals during sonar drills.

"The Navy has known for years about the risk to marine life, and they have
had ample time to plan for it without disrupting their training program,"
Reynolds said. "Instead, they waited until the last minute to request an
authorization, and the authorization they got is illegal."

For RIMPAC 2006, the U.S. Navy received an Incidental Harassment
Authorization (IHA) from NMFS, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic &
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is the first time the Navy has sought
prior permission to use sonar.

The IHA was "unlawfully issued," says the suit, because federal law prohibits
the use of IHAs to authorize activities, like these sonar exercises, that may
seriously injure or kill marine mammals. The lawsuit also asserts numerous
other claims under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the National
Environmental Policy Act.

The lawsuit will be brought by NRDC in conjunction with the International
Fund for Animal Welfare, the Cetacean Society International, the Ocean Futures
Society, and Jean-Michel Cousteau. It will be filed at the U.S. District Court
for the Central District of California.

Mass stranding and mortality events associated with mid-frequency sonar
exercises have occurred all over the world in the last 20 years. Among the most
well known strandings are those in North Carolina (2005), Haro Strait (off the
coast of Washington State, 2003), the Canary Islands (2004, 2002, 1989, 1986,
1985), Madeira (2000), the U.S. Virgin Islands (1999, 1998), and Greece (1996).

One of the best-documented incidents took place in the Bahamas, in 2000, when
16 whales of three species stranded along 150 miles of shoreline as ships
blasted the area with sonar. The U.S. Navy later acknowledged in an official
report that its use of sonar was the likely cause of the stranding.

"We can protect our national security without endangering whales, dolphins,
and other marine species," said Cara Horowitz, a project attorney at NRDC.
"When it chooses to train in uniquely rich waters like the areas off Hawaii, the
Navy must take significant steps to avoid harming whales during tests of
mid-frequency sonar