Why does the Navy want to kill dolphins and whales with sonar systems so loud that the noise can travel 300 miles? So it can detect modern diesel-electric submarines like the Song class Chinese attack submarine that surfaced within striking distance of the USS Kitty Hawk on battle maneuvers in the western Pacific. Much to the embarrassment of Pentagon officials the submarine went undetected by the carrier's defensive screen of escort ships, submarines and aircraft. Perhaps the answer to this obvious vulnerability lies not in killing intelligent marine mammals merely trying to survive, but in rethinking our Navy's training and and submarine defense tactics in the face of sophisticated conventional technology. Apparently it takes more than a lot of noise to find an inscrutable Chinese sub.The NRDC is suing the Navy to get it to use its low and mid-frequency arrays well away from sensitive areas for whales and dolphins such as migration routes and breeding grounds. The environmental advocacy group achieved some success against the LFA system which floods the ocean with sound waves so powerful that they kill whales at close range. A 2003 court decision limited the use of the low frequency sonar, but the Regime has reauthorized deployment. NRDC is planning to go to court again to block its use. Scientists are fairly certain that low frequency sonar is responsible for the documented stranding and deaths of whales from the Bahamas to the Canary Islands to Japan. A California federal district court judge temporarily enjoined the use of mid-frequency sonar off the coast saying it was a "near certainty" that its use along the coast would cause widespread harm to whale populations. The temporary injunction was lifted on appeal, but the case is proceeding on the merits to the full 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Navy wants to deploy mid range frequency sonar along the Carolina Outer Banks as part of a 500 square mile Atlantic Undersea Warfare Range. That is smack in the middle of the endangered right whale migratory route. There are only about 300 of these whales left in the Atlantic. Many have been killed in collisions with ships as they traverse the busy shipping lanes off the northeast United States. Scientists have demonstrated that military sonar's intense noise levels can damage the whales own sonar systems, making them more vulnerable to collisions and even cause them to strand. In 2005 thirty-seven whales of three different species stranded on the beaches of the Outer Banks after Navy sonar exercises. No one expects the Navy to ignore the military capabilities of competing nations. China has 13 Song class submarines, but they also own 60% of our national debt. We hope the Navy will realize that killing endangered whales will not make America safer.