By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
The Navy research vessel Cory Chouest pulled into Pearl
Harbor this morning after completing a monthlong series
of controversial sonar tests off the Big Island's Kona Coast.
Navy concludes sonar
tests on whales
'Ultimately, (disruptions caused by
By Lori Tighe
protesters are) going to harm the whales
rather than help them'
Star-BulletinEnvironmentalists prevented the Navy from doing as much sonar testing on humpback whales as it would have liked, forcing the Navy to cut back as much as 40 percent of its planned operations.
Lt. Jeff Davis, Navy spokesman, said the crew of the research vessel Cory Chouest "missed quite a bit. The protesters kept them from doing as much testing as they liked."
Davis said it was "a real waste of taxpayers' money. Ultimately, it's going to harm the whales rather than help them. We as humans are pretty ignorant about how whales react to low-frequency sounds."
The Cory Chouest pulled into Pearl Harbor this morning, the day the Navy had planned to stop the tests which began in the last week of February near the Big Island's Kona coast.
Davis said the whales apparently didn't suffer any overt effects. However, he acknowledged that the Navy doesn't know "if there were any subtle effects on the whales."
Davis said the Navy is going to incorporate long-term data from the National Marine Fisheries Service into its overall research.
The final environmental impact statement should be released in the fall. It will be used to determine whether the Navy will use low-frequency sonar to detect submarines.
The Navy conducted the tests off the Big Island's Kona coast as part of the development of a new submarine detection system.
It uses low-frequency sounds, which travel farther in the ocean than the high-frequency sounds used in traditional sonar, to detect enemy subs.
The Navy had said that if the whales showed any adverse reactions, the sounds would be turned off.
The tests that exposed whales to low-frequency noises drew a number of lawsuits from environmentalists and others who claimed the noises would hurt the whales. All of the five suits were dismissed.
Greenpeace Hawaii maintains that Big Island boat operators have had to stop their whale-watching operations earlier because there are no whales.
Michael Bailey, local Greenpeace director, today said that Maggie Bell, owner of Body Glove Charters, has filed suit against the Navy and the federal government, alleging she lost $60,000 in revenues because the humpback whales left the area prematurely.
A House committee also was to hold a public hearing today on a nonbinding resolution which would not allow the installation or deployment of any device that would generate or be used in low-frequency sonar if the Navy's test shows that these sounds are harmful to marine life.
The resolution, however, would have no effect of law.
Star-Bulletin writer Gregg K. Kakesako
contributed to this report.
