Sonar Banned in U.S. Navy Exercise to Protect Hawaii Whales

Maryann Mott
for National Geographic News

July 6, 2006

The U.S. Navy was forced to stop using high-intensity sonar during
training exercises off Hawaii yesterday after an environmental group won
a temporary restraining order.

The exercises would have involved generating underwater mid-frequency sound waves to search for "enemy" submarines.

But environmentalists are concerned that the sound waves have a harmful effect on marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins, that swim in Hawaiian waters (map of Hawaii).

This year about 19,000 service men and women from eight countries are participating in the Navy's Rim of the Pacific exercise, the world's largest international maritime training event.

For now the group has been training with passive sonar—using microphones to track noises made by underwater objects—and visual searches, says Vice Adm. Barry Costello, commander of the U.S. Third Fleet.

But the Navy has asked for an appeal on the restraining order, citing a need for more realistic training practices.

"Preventing ships, helicopters, airplanes, and submarines from actively hunting submarines with mid-frequency active sonar seriously compromises the realism of the exercise and degrades the sailors' training," Costello said in a written statement.

Stranded Whales

The temporary restraining order was issued Monday, just days after the U.S. Department of Defense granted the Navy a six-month exemption from federal laws protecting marine mammals.

Mid-frequency sonar has been linked to mass strandings and deaths of whales, dolphins, and other marine species around the world, says the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), which filed the lawsuit.

This is the third time the NRDC has sued the Navy over sonar safety concerns, says organization spokesperson Hamlet Paoletti.

Marine biologists believe strandings can be caused by many factors, including parasites, pollution, trauma, and starvation.

Whether sonar contributes to strandings has long been a source of debate between animal welfare groups and the military.

Sonar technology emits high-decibel sound waves across tens or even hundreds of miles of ocean to reveal objects in the waves' path.

But whales and other marine mammals rely on their own natural form of sonar to navigate and communicate. Scientific studies have linked the loud noises created by military sonar to sick or confused animals.

One such event environmentalists point to is the stranding of 150 melon-headed whales off Hawaii in July 2004 shortly after the military conducted mid-frequency sonar exercises.

A report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concluded sonar was likely a contributing factor to the stranding.

The Navy denies that sonar played a part in that incident.

Security Issue

The military argues that mid-frequency sonar has become more important to national security in recent years, as other countries acquire quieter operating submarines.

About 160 ships in the Navy's fleet are equipped with mid-frequency sonar, but it's only turned on during training and maintenance activities, Navy officials add.

The NRDC counters that the government should use "common sense measures," such as an extra marine-mammal spotter on board ships.

The military should also avoid conducting sonar exercises near marine mammal feeding and breeding areas, the council says.

"Mid-frequency sonar can be used under slightly different conditions and can achieve all the military needs in terms of training without harassing or damaging or killing any marine mammals in the region," Paoletti said.

In the restraining order, U.S. District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper wrote that the Navy's failure to take a hard look at the impact of its training exercises was an "arbitrary, capricious" violation of the National Environmental Policy Act.

She ordered the two sides to meet and resolve their differences by July 12. If an agreement is not reached, a hearing will take place on July 18.

Meanwhile, the Navy's international war games will continue until the end of this month.

The NRDC expressed concerns over the exercises taking place in waters near the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, which were created just two weeks ago by U.S. President George W. Bush. (Read "Hawaii Islands Named World's Largest Marine Sanctuary.")

The monument includes a 1,200-mile-long (1,930-kilometer-long) chain of relatively undisturbed island and coral reef habitat that is home to more than 7,000 species.

The Navy told the Associated Press it did not plan to use mid-frequency sonar inside the newly protected area.

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