A recent news story reports that the Pentagon is moving toward asking Congress to rewrite the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act to exempt military training exercises from protective restrictions. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy is forging ahead with a sonar program scientists declare will have a devastating effect worldwide on our marine mammal population.
The Navy has been secretly testing a “low-frequency active” (LFA) program for several years. Now, they wish to deploy this program over 80 percent of the world’s oceans. The military wisdom of this sonar, designed to detect enemy submarines, is still in dispute. What has become increasingly clear to scientists is the threat that it can push entire sea animal populations into extinction.
LFA noise is billions of times more intense than that known to disturb whale migration and communication. During a Naval exercise last year four different species of whales stranded themselves and died on beaches across the northern Bahamas. All but one of the dead animals examined by researchers had suffered hemorrhaging around the inner ear. The Navy’s own report concluded it is “highly likely” the stranding was caused by exposure to mid-frequency active sonar. Yet they are going ahead with plans to deploy the most extensive active sonar system ever devised. Imagine an acoustic wave so powerful that even at substantial distances, it can destroy your hearing, cause your lungs or ears to hemorrhage, or even kill you. Imagine subjecting most of the world’s seals, dolphins, whales and other marine animals to such assault.
If you agree that proceeding with this destructive program is unconscionable, please write, phone or e-mail your district representative and Washington senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell now, while Congress is in the process of deciding the Navy’s funding for next year.
Camano Island
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