Lieutenant Commander Matt Knight, who serves as a U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman, noted that these new restrictions would not create roadblocks in the Navy’s preparations. Not only can the sonar be confusing to animals attempting to feed or communicate with one another, the Navy notes that some 155 whales and dolphins have died as a result of training exercises in the waters around Hawaii and Southern California.
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A You can introduce.S. Navy has arranged to eliminate mind-blowing exercises and sonar include in the ocean off south California and Hawaii.
When done at close range to feeding areas of these marine creatures it disrupts feeding and breeding patterns.
“Here in Hawaii, it’s all around the Hawaiian Islands with the areas that we protected through today’s agreement focused on Maui County and around the Big Island”, said Henkin.
The ruling set the stage for settlement talks, Henkin stated.
The Navy estimates trainings could could cause 11,000 serious injuries of marine life off the East Coast and 2,000 off Hawaii and Southern California.
The Navy hasn’t had a great rep with dolphins and whales. Activists say this finally affords vulnerable whales and dolphins some much needed safety.
However, the NRDC does not plan on stopping there, and instead will tackle other training areas of the Navy in their intention on banning sonar use in the Pacific Northwest, Gulf of Alaska, and northern Florida. Marine biologists have been warning for years of the effects of sonars near the habitats of marine mammals, such as whales or dolphins, by stating that the mid-frequency can drastically damage their hearing.
Navy surface vessels must use “extreme caution” and travel at a safe speed to minimize the risk of ship strikes in humpback whale habitat.
They have now agreed upon restricting their training, and, for once, admitting that they do not require every inch of the ocean to conduct their exercises. “The Navy can meet its training and testing needs and, at the same time, provide significant protections to whales and dolphins by limiting the use of sonar and explosives in vital habitat”, Marsha Green, president of Ocean Mammal Institute, said in a statement.
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The settlement comes after Earthjustice and different environmental teams sued in 2013, hard the fisheries service’s choice to permit the coaching.
