A federal appeals court has ruled that Sonar approved for use by the US Navy is in violation of marine laws.
The Ninth US Circuit Court in San Francisco ruled 3-0 on June 15, that the low-frequency active sonar approved in 2012 failed to meet a section of the protection act requiring peacetime oceanic programs to have “the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammals.”
The low-frequency active sonar, which is used to detect enemy submarines, has the potential to harm whales, dolphins and other marine species that heavily rely on underwater sound for navigating, catching prey and communicating.
“It’s important to understand that the ocean is a world of sound, not sight,” says Michael Jasny, director of NRDC’s marine mammal protection project.
In 2012, the National Marine Fisheries Service permitted navy sonar use on the condition that it be shut down or delayed when a marine mammal was detected near the ships. In addition, loud sonar pulses were also banned near coastlines and in certain protected waters.
From 2012, the approval covered peacetime operations in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea. Environmental groups, led by the Natural Resources Defense Council, filed a lawsuit in San Francisco in 2012, claiming the approval was in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
“We have every reason to believe that the Navy has been deliberate and thoughtful in its plans to follow NMFS guidelines and limit unnecessary harassment and harm to marine mammals,” the appellate ruling said.
However, it was found that the National Marine Fisheries Service “did not give adequate protection to areas of the world’s oceans flagged by its own experts as biologically important.”
A federal magistrate had previously disagreed with the environmentalists claims. Despite this, the Ninth US Circuit Court’s decision has overruled the previous ruling. According to the courts, government officials had disregarded their own experts’ warnings about the impacts sonar has on marine species.
“The result is that a meaningful proportion of the world’s marine mammal habitat is under-protected,” according to the decision.
Image: Flickr, Hans Dekker
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