Right Whale Protections Ignored by Navy Warfare Training Plans
In order to construct an undersea warfare training range adjacent to the only known calving grounds for endangered right whales, the U.S. Navy has decided to proceed without obtaining required approvals.
According to Earthjustice, the Navy plans to start construction of the undersea warfare training range at a location next to the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) calving grounds – despite the fact that authorization from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has not been obtained.
While numerous measures for lessening its environmental impact were recommended by the states of Georgia and Florida and environmental groups, the Navy rejected all of them. The Navy’s own documents further revealed that the warfare training range site was selected without considering environmental impacts.
Taryn Kiekow, attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council attorney, stated in the Earthjustice release that
The Navy has fast-tracked the planning process for the range, and in the process disregarded environmental laws designed to prohibit this from happening.
How the Navy’s activities will affect the right whales
Although the main cause of death for the right whale is ship strikes, Navy ships will pass through the calving ground as they travel between the bases and training area. Navy ships happen to be exempt from speed restrictions recently implemented by the government to protect endangered right whales.
The mother whales and their calves must also endure the harassment of low flying aircraft deployed by the Navy.
Earthjustice says that
The Navy plans to conduct 470 annual exercises on the training range with up to three vessels and two aircraft engaged in simulated warfare. Ships and aircraft would travel to the range from Mayport, FL, and Kings Bay, GA.
And while entanglements are a significant cause of the death for right whales and sea turtles, the Navy’s training activities will bring 3,000 sonobuoys (yearly), exercise torpedoes and control wires, parachute assemblages, and ballast into the protected area.
Each year, 10 to 30 percent of the right whale population becomes entangled. This can prevent the whales from eating, breathing, even swimming – and often results in death.
In addition to the ships, aircraft, and debris that the Navy will be bringing to the whales’ habitat, the Navy will be deploying non-explosive exercise torpedoes and target submarine simulators. Various forms of active and passive sonar will be used during the training exercises.
And while sonar is likely to travel into the calving ground during the calving season, the Navy has not proposed any measures for lessening the effect of sonar on the right whale calves and nursing mothers.
An attorney with Southern Environmental Law Center, Catherine Wannamaker, has been monitoring the process for three years. She explained the Navy’s decision in an Earthjustice release:
The Navy’s decision to pass off an undersea warfare training range as just a construction project is an obvious dodge of environmental protections for right whales and commercially valuable marine life. Proceeding with construction locks in public funds and location before the range is evaluated and approved for ship traffic, sonar, and debris near the only known nursery for right whales and within areas critical to commercially valuable marine life.
“Worst possible site”
Earthjustice attorney, Katie Renshaw, said in the release:
The Navy selected the worst possible site for this range. These waters are home to a stunning array of biodiversity, including some of the ocean’s most threatened creatures: the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, blue whales, and leatherback and loggerhead sea turtles. Before this project goes any further, we need to know how it will affect these animals. That’s the law.
Will the U.S. Navy get away with dodging the laws created to protect endangered species and the environment?
Image source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission/NOAA
Perhaps those two Russian nuclear submarines that are currently submerged off the east coast could take a look and see what they think……
“This article has many incorrect statements, of which I’ll try to address a few. The Navy’s decision to construct an undersea warfare training range off the Florida coast was made only after long-term consultations with the National Marine Fisheries Service. The range will be constructed over 30 miles away from the right whale critical habitat area. On July 28 NMFS issued a biological opinion stating that this range is not likely to adversely affect critical habitat for endangered whales or jeopardize the continued existence of these species. NMFS considered not just construction of the range, but operations on that range as well.
Since training on the range is not expected to begin until at least 2014, the Navy has chosen to use the interim period to conduct a multi-year study of marine mammals. The study will use aerial, shipboard and passive acoustic surveys to assess the presence of right whales both within and outside the range area. The Navy will use the results to further inform the way it ultimately uses the range. If this and similar scientific studies reveal a need to modify our protective measures in the future, the Navy will do so.
Anyone wanting additional information on this topic, including more information on the Navy’s world-class marine mammal research program, may contact me at tracey.moriarty@navy.mil.”
From the author:
Thank you for providing additional information so that readers have the opportunity to examine this issue from a different perspective.