The Navy has been given a two-year exemption from provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act that will allow it to use mid-frequency sonar and a new sensor that uses small explosive charges during major training exercises and on established ranges and operating areas.
These areas don't include Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, said Navy Lt. Ryan Perry of the Office of Naval Information at the Pentagon. "We don't exercise there," he said.
The Navy contends that continued training with active sonar is essential in protecting the lives of its sailors and to national defense, particularly against an increasing threat from quiet diesel-electric submarines that continue to proliferate among navies worldwide.
"The Navy has worked closely with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on our long-term compliance strategy, and the national defense exemption is an agreed-upon part of the strategy," said Navy Rear Adm. James Symonds, director of environmental readiness.
"We will continue to employ stringent mitigation measures, developed with NOAA's concurrence, to protect marine mammals during all sonar activities," he said.
The Natural Resources Defense Council filed suit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in the fall of 2005 to stop the Navy's sonar exercises, contending that numerous mass whale strandings and deaths of whales have been associated with sonar use in areas that include Hawaii, Washington state, North Carolina and the Bahamas.
The council was joined in the suit by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Cetacean Society International, the Ocean Futures Society and Jean-Michel Cousteau.
The organization believes the exemption invoked by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, who previously served as Secretary of the Navy, is a ploy to place the Navy above the law and avoid the suit, said Natural Resources Defense Council attorney Cara Horowitz.
Conservationists argue that the Navy is also operating in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and the federal Endangered Species Act.
"The Navy invoked the exemption to excuse it from compliance with the fundamental law protecting whales dolphins and other marine mammals for two years," she said. "To us it's a clear admission that Navy operations today off the coast of California and elsewhere do not comply with this most fundamental law."
The Navy sought permits for its operations off Southern California, including gunnery practice, minesweeping, amphibious landings and other exercises, from the California Coastal Commission at the commission's Jan. 10 meeting.
Commissioners voted 8-1 to require additional protection measures for marine mammals as conditions for approval, including a larger safety zone at all times around the sonar source, reducing the sonar power level at night or at other times when visibility is compromised, and avoiding areas in or near significant marine mammal habitats, like whale breeding and feeding areas and migratory routes.
In 2002, the Navy began implementation of a comprehensive strategy to ensure compliance with federal laws.
The two-year exemption enables the Navy to continue execution of the plan, which includes full environmental documentation of all major Navy training and exercise areas, according to the Pentagon. As documentation of each area is completed, the exemption will no longer apply in that area.
The Navy's compliance plan will ultimately cover all major U.S. Navy ranges and operating areas with environmental impact statements under the National Environmental Policy Act, and any necessary letters of authorization under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and consultation under the federal Endangered Species Act as required.
Navy policy mandates that all its ranges and operating areas be covered by overarching compliance actions by the end of fiscal 2009. Several of the operating area projects have notices of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement already published in the Federal Register, the beginning step in the comprehensive procedure which will involve public participation.
Authority for the exemption was included by Congress in the 2004 National Defense Authorization Act.
For more information, visit the Navy's Web site for sonar and marine mammals at www.whalesandsonar.navy.mil.
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Kevin Howe can be reached at 646-4416 or khowe@montereyherald.com.
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For further reading on this topic please visit: Naval Sonar Suspected in Deaths of Cetaceans