According to experts from the National Resources Defence Council (NRDC), the Navy agreed to use the sonar only in specific areas along the eastern seaboard of Asia under the terms of a settlement reached last week. In addition to restricting the system to the eastern seaboard of Asia, the Navy also agreed to seasonal restrictions during whale migration, and to avoid using the system near the coast. None of the restrictions applies during time of war.
"It's a small victory, but a victory nevertheless," said Naomi Rose, marine biology specialist for the Washington, DC-based NRDC. "At this point, we'll take any decision against the sonar testing we can get."
The agreement still must be approved by a federal magistrate to become permanent. If implemented, the deal would greatly restrict the Navy's original plan for the sonar system, which once was slated to be tested in most of the world's oceans.
As of this week, the Navy had not received final word of the agreement, but would comply, Lt. Cmdr. Cappy Surrette said.
"Whatever the final decision is, the Navy will uphold the law," Surrette was quoted as saying earlier this week.
Environmentalists say that sonar systems endanger marine mammals and fish, especially whales. They point to a different system the Navy used in 2000, when at least 16 whales and two dolphins beached themselves on islands in the Bahamas. Eight whales died and scientists found hemorrhaging around their brains and ear bones consistent with exposure to loud noise.
"Oceans are an acoustic environment, and the species that live there have an acute acoustic sense," Frederick O'Regan, president of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said. "If we interfere with these critical behaviors, we may be affecting not just individual animals, but entire populations."
The Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups sued the Navy last year over the new system, seeking to restrict its use. In a San Francisco courthouse earlier this summer, U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte later issued a preliminary injunction restricting use of the system, and in a separate ruling ordered the environmentalists and the Navy to negotiate a final settlement. Since the injunction, the Navy had used the sonar system, called the Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System, Low Frequency Active, in restricted areas without harm to marine life.
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