Sonar Hearing SF

A good turn out of grassroots activists, important public testimony by experts and just plain sperts, plus 2,900 e-mails helped turn the tide against the US Navy before the California Coastal Commission this morning (Friday, Dec. 15th) in San Francisco. The CCC voted unanimously, much to the Navy’s stated annoyance, to refrain from approving a […]

Federal Court Blocks Navy’s Use of High-Intensity Sonar in Massive Hawaiian War Games

Judge Grants Restraining Order to Protect Marine Mammals, Other Species From Unnecessary Harm Caused by Deadly Sonar Near President’s New National Monument LOS ANGELES (July 3, 2006) – In an emphatic stroke for the rule of law, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper today issued a temporary restraining order blocking the use of high-intensity, mid-frequency sonar […]

Pentagon exempts Navy from whale protection law

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon on Friday exempted the Navy for six months from a law protecting whales and other marine mammals, a move that may allow planned naval exercises using military sonar to proceed despite a lawsuit. The exemption allows the Navy to conduct the 13 exercises it plans over the next six months without […]

Whales in the Way of Sonar

The debate over whether the Navy’s use of sonar to detect submarines is harming whales and other sound-sensitive species is back again. This time the battleground is the waters off the southeastern United States, where the Navy hopes to establish a training area for sailors who need to practice their sonar skills in a shallow […]

Collateral Damage

News: Navy sonar exercises could be to blame for whale strandings. The pilot whales began coming ashore last January, on North Carolina’s Cape Hatteras National Seashore, not far from Whalebone Junction, where fishermen make the turn toward the marina at Oregon Inlet. Short-finned with distinctly rounded heads and long, stocky dark bodies, some were almost […]

Navy’s Plans for Sonar Facility Challenged

Danger Posed to Whales Is Cited The civilian agency in charge of marine issues has sharply challenged the Navy’s plans to build an underwater sonar training range in the Atlantic Ocean, saying that the military significantly underestimated the danger posed to whales and other marine mammals and that the science the Navy used to reach […]

Navy sued over harm to whales from mid-frequency sonar

Simple precautions could protect majestic creatures LOS ANGELES (October 19, 2005) – Ear-splitting sonar used throughout the world’s oceans during routine testing and training by the United States Navy harms marine mammals in violation of bedrock environmental laws, according to a lawsuit filed here today in federal court. Whales, dolphins and other marine animals could […]

Pumping Up the Volume

It’s been great being the NRDC’s guest blogger these past couple of weeks, and I’ve really appreciated all the responses. It’s time for outrage at what’s happening to our oceans and their magnificent inhabitants, and I’m glad to have helped fuel the fire. It seems a day can’t go by without something new that gets […]

Degree of sonar harm to marine mammals debated

Whales, porpoises seen acting strangely Scientists and whale-watchers in Haro Strait could hear the sonar long before they saw the USS Shoup. As the pings grew louder above and beneath the waves, sounds ricocheting off submerged land forms, onlookers saw a minke whale, Dall’s porpoises and killer whales behaving strangely. Whale expert David Bain said […]