Navy Sued Over Sub-Detecting Sonar

Environmentalists have taken aim at a powerful low-frequency sonar system used by the U.S. Navy, which they say can strand, or even kill, marine mammals.

A coalition of environmental groups led by the Natural Resources Defense Council sued the Navy and the National Marine Fisheries Service in federal court Wednesday to block the use of the system, which identifies enemy submarines. The groups say the sonar can interfere with marine mammals' communication systems.

In July, the fisheries service, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, gave the Navy a five-year exemption from the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

"Despite the public and scientific outcry, the National Marine Fisheries Service, under whatever pressure, has licensed the U.S. Navy to basically break the law," said Jean-Michel Cousteau, founder and president of Ocean Futures Society, a plaintiff in the case. "It is a license to kill."

The Navy says it's invested more than $10 million to develop appropriate guidelines to use the sonar system.

"We are disappointed that some groups refuse to accept scientific peer-reviewed findings and instead rely on misinformation and unrelated facts to try to prevent the use of this system," Navy Lt. Cmdr. Pauline Storum said Wednesday.

Gordon Helm, spokesman for the fisheries service, said the agency has required the Navy to comply with some restrictions, such as not deploying the sonar within 14 miles of the coast.

"We consider (the impact) to be negligible. If we find out differently, we can halt the authorization," he said.

Those trying to stop the sonar, which is to be used across 75 percent of the world's oceans, say not enough is known about the effect on whales and dolphins. They fear it can disrupt feeding, breeding, nursing, communication and other behaviors.

"The organisms we're talking about have in their heads a system for seeing with sound that's just as good as our system for seeing with light," said George Woodwell, director of Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts. "If we flood the oceans with sound that has enormous energy, we're killing them."

Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist with the Humane Society, said scientists are concerned that sounds as intense as those expected to come from the Navy's sonar could deafen animals, give them the bends or cause "resonance" -- the ability of sound to tear body tissue much like an opera singer can shatter glass.

Cousteau also warned that the sonar could affect humans, such as scuba divers, who might be nearby.

Environmentalists note that within hours after the Navy deployed a powerful mid-range sonar near the Bahamas in 2000, at least 16 whales and two dolphins beached themselves. Scientists found hemorrhaging around the brain and ear bones -- injuries consistent with exposure to extremely loud sounds. Eight whales died.

The Humane Society, the League for Coastal Protection and the Cetacean Society International also are plaintiffs in the suit.