Save the Whales from George Bush

Whales and other marine mammals are injured and killed from sonar testing I think it is important to keep things in as positive and non-political a light as possible here at Hugg, offering solutions when possible instead of constantly presenting problems.

But that isn’t always possible, unfortunately, and a story I’ve been following for some time now has once again hit the news and I think it’s important to let as many folks as possible know what’s going on.

For years now the United States Navy has sought to test low and mid-frequency frequency sonar systems that propagate enormous sound pressure levels through the ocean waters. The sound waves travel large distances through the water causing disorientation, damaged hearing, and death among marine mammals – particularly whales.

Sound pressure levels from these high-intensity sonar tests reach in excess of 230 decibels. The threshold of pain in human hearing is 130dB. Imagine standing near the launching pad of the space shuttle when it blasts off and you get an idea of the intensity of these sound levels. At these levels, transmitting through air, it is a more a pressure wave than a sound wave – it is literally a weapon that can kill you.

The mechanism of marine mammal hearing is highly sophisticated and is the means by which they communicate, hunt, find mates, and navigate through the dark oceans. Their hearing is in itself a sonar, effectively “jammed” by the intensity of the Navy’s sonar system and other industrial noise, causing, among other things, forced beaching, disorientation, and internal hemorrhaging around the brain and ears – literally making their ears bleed. (The Natural Resources Defense Council has produced a video describing the effects to the animals of high intensity sound.)

The Navy does have mitigation procedures in place but George Bush doesn’t think that’s good enough. Once again he acts in an authoritarian manner that many activists, scientists, and constitutional experts find dangerous and unprecedented, exempting the Navy from the requirements of the Coastal Zone Management Act by allowing mid-frequency sonar tests within 12 miles off the coast of San Diego, an area known to contain large populations of marine mammals. This contradicts both the spirit and the letter of the law allowing states to regulate and protect their own coastal areas. Something that no president has ever attempted and that California State Attorney General Jerry Brown is asking a federal judge to nullify as unconstitutional.

To my mind, this is flagrant disregard for ocean life, environmental law, and the American system of jurisprudence and separation of powers. There seems to be no stopping what George Bush will try or how far he’ll go to impose his misbegotten will on all of us.

Sources and Further Reading
Wired (good comments with this blog post)
Jurist
NRDC – press release and information
UPI
Los Angeles Times