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View Full Version : Court orders Navy to reduce effects of sonar on marine life



stephanie
11-14-2007, 03:12 AM
Wt..:poke:

uesday, November 13, 2007

(11-13) 19:55 PST San Francisco (AP) --

A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered the U.S. Navy to lessen the harm its high-power sonar does to whales and other marine life during exercises off the Southern California coast.

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals sent the matter to a trial judge in Los Angeles to figure out exactly how to fix the problem it says is apparent with the sonar. The three-judge panel said the sonars need to be fixed before the Navy's next planned exercise in January.

The action was taken because the court said it's likely the Natural Resources Defense Council will win its lawsuit to force the Navy to lessen the harm.

The appeals court previously overturned a blanket ban on the naval exercises, ruling that prohibition was too broad.

The council's lawsuit alleges the Navy's sonar causes whales to beach themselves among other environmental harms.

"There are simple, proven ways to avoid this problem without compromising the Navy's readiness," said Joel Reynolds, senior attorney and director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project at the NRDC.

The Navy maintains it already minimizes risks to marine life. It has monitored the ocean off Southern California for the 40 years it has employed sonar without seeing any whale injuries, said spokesman Capt. Scott Gureck.

"These integrated sonar training exercises are absolutely vital for our strike groups to conduct before they deploy," Gureck said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/11/13/state/n151450S57.DTL

5stringJeff
11-16-2007, 10:05 AM
If a couple of whales die, but the country is protected from external threats, then it's worth the couple of whales.

Hagbard Celine
11-16-2007, 10:46 AM
"There are simple, proven ways to avoid this problem without compromising the Navy's readiness," said Joel Reynolds
Seems pretty straightforward to me. Why release a bull in a china shop when you could just as easily put the bull in a pasture?

LiberalNation
11-16-2007, 10:59 AM
Screw the whales.

Little-Acorn
11-16-2007, 11:35 AM
There's an easy way to help the poor whales from being damaged by Navy sonar (tell me again what evidence there was that sonar was messing them up? Whales have been beaching themselves for centuries, long before sonar was ever invented).

The method: Go to one area of the ocean, and toss a few judges from the 9th Circus Court of appeals overboard. The marine life will go nuts tearing them apart and feasting. In the meantime, the ships go to another part of the ocean and conduct their sonar exercises, far from the feeding frenzy in relatively whale-free waters.

Everyone benefits: The sea creatures get to eat, they don't have to listen to loud sonars, the Navy gets to do its exercises, and the 9th Circus is re-staffed, hopefully with judges who actually obey the law. A win-win situation all around!

Yurt
11-16-2007, 07:51 PM
There's an easy way to help the poor whales from being damaged by Navy sonar (tell me again what evidence there was that sonar was messing them up? Whales have been beaching themselves for centuries, long before sonar was ever invented).

The method: Go to one area of the ocean, and toss a few judges from the 9th Circus Court of appeals overboard. The marine life will go nuts tearing them apart and feasting. In the meantime, the ships go to another part of the ocean and conduct their sonar exercises, far from the feeding frenzy in relatively whale-free waters.

Everyone benefits: The sea creatures get to eat, they don't have to listen to loud sonars, the Navy gets to do its exercises, and the 9th Circus is re-staffed, hopefully with judges who actually obey the law. A win-win situation all around!


Don't lie, the great satan has had sonar for ..........ever :laugh2:

retiredman
11-16-2007, 08:18 PM
active sonar is nowhere near as effective as passive sonar in detecting submarines. Its most useful application is scaring submarines away from battle groups. Sub launched cruise missiles with targeting data provided by remote sensors reduce the need for submarines to close to within active sonar range to accurately put ordinance on high value targets