Huge public opposition to US Navy sonar range

There has been huge public opposition to the US Navy’s plans to build an underwater sonar training range and also a very critical response from the US agency which is tasked with nature conservation.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in its response, has said that the US military have significantly underestimated the danger the training range will pose to whales and other marine mammals and that the science the Navy has used to reach its conclusions is flawed.

In a technical letter to the US Navy, the organisation said the Navy has neglected to address the likelihood that its mid-frequency sonar would kill some whales and that the proposed site for the training range, off North Carolina, was near the area used by the highly endangered right whale during its annual migration and could be threatened.

The letter also states that the US Navy had used a measure for the allowable level of noise ten times greater than that recommended by the agency.

The US Navy says that it needs an Atlantic Ocean sonar testing range in order to train sailors to detect foreign submarines that may come near American shores. However, scientists are becoming increasing concerned that loud blasts of sonar have caused whales to strand and die.
In addition to the letter from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, a further 40,000 pages of public comments on the Navy’s plans have been received. Many contain the same paragraph, opposing the undersea warfare training range.
The sheer number of public comments from across the United States of America indicates the public is paying very close attention to this development and is very concerned indeed. WDCS has also filed comment along with other conservation and welfare organizations.

Source: Cape Cod Times/The Virginian Pilot/WDCS