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Environmentalists sue US Navy over whale-harming sonar use
A law suit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and some other environment friendly activists in the Federal District Court, Los Angeles accused the US Navy of using a type of sonar that have harmful effects on whales and dolphins which could even lead to deaths among them.
The suit is aimed at restricting the use of midfrequency sonar having the capability of discharging sound over 235 decibels, equivalent to a rocket blast. US Navy makes use of the midfrequency sonar to spot enemy submarines.
Environmentalists stressed on the need for the Navy to show more concern towards these water-creatures. According to them, this can be done by first making use of the non-toxic passive sonar and listening to noises made by whales and dolphins. Only when they believe the creatures are safe should they start the midfrequency sonar.
An important mention made in the suit is to curb sonar use in places where whales and dolphins migrate and reproduce.
The main crusader against the sonar exercises, NRDC, charged the US Navy of breaching the environmental laws existing in the country.
“Military sonar needlessly threatens whole populations of whales”, says NRDC lawyer Joel Reynolds who believes things could be different if only the Navy takes some fundamental safety measures.
The Navy, on the other hand, claims to have put in place “scientifically-based protective measures” which see to it that marine animals are not harmed by their sonar actions.
Supporting the cause actor Pierce Brosnan, better known as James Bond on screen, says overuse of sonar might lead to annihilation of these animals in the future.
“We owe it to our children to be better stewards of the environment” states Brosnan dwelling on the unimaginable thought of a world without wales.
This is not the first time environmental groups has combined forces to protest the use of sonar.
A couple of years back, the NRDC and like minded organzations were triumphant in limiting the use of U.S. Navy's low-frequency active sonar system to testing and training in only a specified region of the north-west Pacific Ocean.
Even as the extent to which sonar use could be harmful is yet to be gauged completely, both the Navy and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration agreed that the mid-frequency sonar did result in mass stranding of whales in the Bahamas in 2000.
Similar instances were also seen in Hawaii, the Canary Islands, Washington state and North Carolina.
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Written
by :
Tabitha Ratliff | Published on :
08:12:00
EST
Thu, 20 Oct 2005 |
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