"Be careful we keep our earth clean, we don't have another earth to go to.. "

carl sagan

We've received significant feedback following our write-up in August on the US Navy's latest sonar technology, which would cover up to 80% of the earth's oceans and enable the Navy to detect submarines hundreds of kilometres away*.

The October 2002 issue of Dive Training magazine (published in the States) takes this issue further, providing further information on how the U.S.'s National Marine Fisheries Service has exempted the U.S. Navy from the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and allows "harrasment" of marine mammals for the next 5 years.

This is despite the various tests conducted by both the Navy and the Fisheries Service that's proven the sonar in question - the Surtass LFA, a surface towed sonar - has caused numerous beachings and killings of whales, including 16 beaked whales off the Grand Bahamas in April 2000.

The facts..

In the 66 page report, all the whales were found to have beached themselves with haemorrhaged inner ears, the result of acoustic trauma and caused disorientation and loss of function, resulting in them beaching themselves on the beaches of Abaco islands.

Whales are especially susceptible to this harassment as they and many others including dolphins rely on sonar for feeding, mating, navigation and even cross-continent migration. According to the Navy, EACH of the 18 speakers being towed emits signals as loud as 215 decibels, or equivalent to standing next to an F-15 jet taking off!!

On August 7th, 2002, the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit on behalf of various international and domestic NGOs, including the Humane Society of the U.S., the Cetacean Society International and the Ocean Futures Society, to stop deployment of the system, to no avail.

The Navy explains it is not allowed to operate within 12 nautical miles of any shore, and says that it will scan the waters up to 2kms around it before deploying, to ensure that no animals are unduly harassed. Common sense, however, dictates 2 points:

a) If two ships, deployed up to 270 days a year, can cover 75% of the oceans by just dropping the sonar 20% of the time, then really - the 12 nautical miles and 2 km scan etc is actually moot, because the scans cover an area hundreds of times bigger anyway!

Are we really that blind to this inconsistency?!

b) Submarines also have a standard procedure to scan the water surface before coming up from depth. This is S.O.P. to avoid crashing into ships above. We also remember how a U.S. nuclear submarine surfaced and crashed into a civilian Japanese boat in international waters, killing 22 high school students. It turns out that a civilian - a Senator's aide (?), no less - was allowed to pilot it to the surface. No criminal charges were made, and the skipper testified - in American court - subject to full immunity, which effectively meant no one was ever persecuted and held accountable for the loss of life.
If it happened to an Indian Navy warship, for example, and killed 22 American civilians, there'd be hell to pay, charges of incompetence and demands to try them in an International Court, if not by the States.

Ths issue here is, that none, not even the most advanced Navy in the world, can claim immunity from human incompetence. Hence if procedures to safeguard against human loss of life are so casually overlooked and done away with, to what extent can we actually hope that they actually give a damn about safeguards to protect whales and other marine mammals?

When and where will it be a concern? When there are human lives at stake - and even then, only if they're American? How can the oceanlife actually stand a chance against such disregard for Mother Earth?

The Navy webpage quotes 224 submarines operated by non-allied nations, and says any undetected submarine is "an undetected terrorist, threatening any surface ship or coastline within its range"... like the gunboat diplomacy utilised by Washington on others in the past 30 years?

Conclusion?

Just 3 months ago reports came back of fishing fleets in the North Sea coming back from week-long excursions with just 12 lbs of catch, citing absolutely barren seas. Whaleshark sightings are becoming more rare, and it is estimated that at the current rate of shark-finning the entire shark population could be classified "Highly Endangered" within the next 5 years.

Specially built Korean, Japanese, Norwegian and American ships are already ploughing international waters - hence with impunity - up to 3 miles deep in search of precious minerals to supply space age material to the military, and the competition is leading to investments of up to USD4 billion each year for the past 3 years.

Is there any real doubt that we're killing our own Earth? When does the killing and messing up of the food-chain stop? Remember that unlike topside, animals and fish underwater can't be as easily quantified and researched on. Hence by the time we notice something is amiss, it will usually be already too late.

There is nothing political, ambiguous or subversive about this. It's just a plea for us to help ourselves, and our children, before it's too late. Please don't let this just happen. For more information please visit the U.S. Navy's website on the sonar or contact the Natural Defenses Resource Council if you feel you would like to express your concerns.

* click here if you'd like to read the original bigfish article printed on August 7th, 2002.

//