Deal bans low-frequency sonar in isles
The lawsuit settlement requires the Navy to mind other restrictions
Hawaii will remain off-limits to powerful low-frequency, active-sonar systems under a settlement approved yesterday in a lawsuit by environmentalists who say it is harmful to whales and other marine mammals.
The settlement, approved by a federal court in San Francisco, stems from a suit against the Navy filed by a coalition of organizations led by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The council said the Navy must adhere to other protective measures, including seasonal and coastal exclusions that will protect breeding grounds and other important whale habitats.
In Hawaii, for example, low-frequency active-sonar training cannot occur near the Hawaii Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary or the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, and is limited to waters beyond 57 miles of the islands.
The NRDC maintains that the Navy's permit involving the use of the so-called SURTASS system, developed over the past decade to hunt for submarines, is illegal. The Navy had planned to use the system, which includes an array of listening devices towed behind surveillance ships, in more than two-thirds of the world's oceans.
This is just one of five suits involving different sonar systems used by the Navy. Opponents are the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Ocean Mammal Institute in Hawaii, represented by Earthjustice.
Lt. Sean Robertson at the Pentagon said the settlement regulated the use of the low-frequency sonar operations in the western and eastern Pacific.
"We are satisfied with this settlement, and we appreciate the mediator's efforts to help the parties come to an agreement," Robertson said.
Michael Jasny, a senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, "We don't have to choose between national security and protecting the environment. Today's agreement maintains the Navy's ability to test and train, while shielding whales and other vulnerable species from harmful underwater noise."
Jeffrey Flocken, the Washington, D.C., director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, added, "This agreement confirms we can achieve environmental protection while maintaining our important national security standards."
In the past, Navy officials here have said that low-frequency sonar is not used in Hawaiian waters. A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration biologist also has said that ships aren't allowed to turn on the low-frequency sonar anywhere in the Hawaiian archipelago.
Low-frequency sonar is a form of active sonar, which uses a sound transmitter and a receiver. Active sonar creates a pulse of sound, often called a "ping," and then the sonar operator listens for reflections (echoes) of that pulse.
Low-frequency sonar relies on extremely loud, low-frequency sound to detect submarines at great distances. The NRDC said the Navy's own studies show the system generates noise intense enough to significantly disrupt whale behavior more than 300 miles away.
