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Bill Would Match Navy Marine Mammal Research Funds With $25M for the MMC
April 23, 2009Representative Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) marked Earth Day by announcing the introduction of a bill that would provide $25 million per year to the Marine Mammal Commission to fund new research into the effects of human activities on whales and dolphins, with a particular focus on the effects of active sonar. “We need to end the fighting […]
Navy Training Spurs Public Concerns, Myths
April 2, 2009Public hearings on the US Navy’s Northwest Training Range Complex have turned, predictably enough, into a circus of public outrage and Navy insistence that no big changes are planned. While it’s true that the training being proposed is little different than that which has been ongoing for many years (decades) off the Pacific Northwest coast, with little […]
Chinese Navy Harasses US Low-Frequency Active Sonar Ship Near Chinese Base
March 22, 2009The USS Impeccable, one of two US Navy long-range Low Frequency Active Sonar (LFAS) surveillance ships deployed in the western Pacific, was repeatedly harassed by Chinese Navy and other Chinese ships during March. The Chinese attempted to snag the towed array cables with poles, and to obstruct the ship’s passage by dropping wood in the […]
Navy Gets Formal OK from NOAA for Sonar Operations in Hawaii
January 13, 2009The Navy took another step on its reformed NEPA compliance path this week, as it received a formal Letter of Authorization to proceed with sonar training missions in waters around Hawaii. The Hawaii training range was the first of 11 Navy ranges to complete its Environmental Impact Statement; the Navy began planning this step of […]
Navy, NRDC Agree to Move Sonar Dispute out of Court
January 7, 2009The US Navy and the NRDC and its co-plaintiffs have settled a long-running lawsuit that challenged the Navy’s overall management of its mid-frequency active sonar program (this suit was separate from more high-profile challenges to specific training missions, one of which recently ended up in the Supreme Court). The resulting agreement formalizes the Navy’s recent commitment […]
Navy Final EIS Says Sonar Training Doesn’t Need Restrictions
December 17, 2008The Navy, as planned, has released its final EIS governing mid-frequency active sonar training along the entire eastern seaboard, as well as a similar EIS for southern California sonar use. While the documents consider formal Alternatives that would limit sonar training to specific areas—either permanently or seasonally, based on marine mammal breeding, feeding, and migration […]
Navy Wins Supreme Court Sonar Case
November 13, 2008This week, the Supreme Court ruled in the Winter v. NRDC case, finding that that the District Court “failed properly to defer to senior Navy officers’ specific, predictive judgments” about how the Court-imposed additional safety measures would impact the Navy’s ability to effectively train its personnel. The case addressed only two specific additional safety requirements […]
Supreme Court Hears Navy Sonar Case, Transcript Available
October 10, 2008For two hours on Wednesday, the long-running dispute between the Navy and NRDC over mid-frequency active sonar had its day in the Supreme Court, and while the Justices did broach some questions about the relative likelihood of harm to cetaceans or Navy training, the legal case itself rests on more procedural grounds having to do […]
AEI FactCheck: Navy/NRDC Battle of the Soundbites
August 21, 2008Been wondering what’s up with the great “Sonar Kills Whales”/”Everything’s Fine, Just Go Away” rhetorical battle between NRDC and the Navy? As you might suspect, the reality is not nearly so neatly defined as either of them might suggest….and if you’re up for digging into it more deeply, the Acoustic Ecology Institute has just posted […]
US Navy Agrees to Geographical Limits on LFAS
August 13, 2008A federal district court has approved a settlement between the Navy and a NRDC-led coalition of environmental groups that will limit training missions using Low-Frequency Active Sonar to several specific regions in the Paciific Ocean. Negotiations were ordered by the court after NRDC challenged the legality of permits the Navy received which would have allowed […]
Beaked Whale Stranding at End of Month-long Navy Exercises
July 31, 2008As the US Navy approaches the end of the month-long multinational RIMPAC training exercise in waters around Hawaii, a single Cuvier’s beaked whale has turned up on a Maui beach. After several hours of near-shore struggle, it was euthenized and taken to Hawaii Pacific University for a necropsy, to attempt to determine the cause of […]
Beaked Whales to be Tagged and Monitored During World’s Largest Joint Navy Exercise
July 20, 2008For the first time, researchers will have the chance to see in detail how beaked whales respond to actual military active sonar exercises, thanks to two studies taking place during the biannual RIMPAC exercises around Hawaii this month. RIMPAC, the world’s largest multi-national naval exercise, involves 20,000 troops from ten countries, and runs through July. […]
Navy Releases First EIS for Sonar Training; Hawaii Range Targeted for Continued Sonar Training, Using Current Safety Procedures
June 30, 2008The US Navy has released its first completed Environmental Impact Statement examining active sonar training activities, this one covering training in waters around Hawaii, and proposing to continue current Navy operating procedures, rather than adopting more stringent safety measures. Eleven other regional training ranges are receiving similar scrutiny, with draft EISs released for two, and […]
US Navy Continues Campaign to Calm Sonar Fears, Resist New Restrictions; Scientists Question Navy’s “Absolute” Threshold of Proof of Harm
June 16, 2008The US Navy continued its increasingly adamant defense of its mid-frequency sonar training program this week, with the US Pacific Fleet Commander telling reporters that court-ordered restrictions are making it more difficult to train. Admiral Robert Willard said that one of his strike groups showed “adequate, although degraded” anti-submarine warfare proficiency during recent exercises off […]
UK Navy Tests Airguns as Alternative to Explosions for Shock Trials
June 16, 2008In the wake of the Falmouth Bay strandings, the UK Navy has announced that it has been testing a new approach to “shock trials,” meant to be less dangerous for marine life. Shock trials test the resilience of ships to mines and torpedoes, typically accomplished by setting off large explosions near the ships. The new […]
Navy Complains About Varying Sonar Rules
June 3, 2008After routine pre-deployment training exercises in Hawaii, some Navy personnel have complained that the differing operational requirements imposed by federal courts in Hawaii and California are complicating, and at times compromising, their mission. Rear Adm. James P. “Phil” Wisecup, commander of the strike group, said the changing sonar rules “just complicate things” in a warfare […]
SoCal Sonar Draft EIS: Navy Sticks to its Approach
April 9, 2008Navy Releases Southern California Sonar Draft EIS, Proposals Fall Short of Court Orders – The Navy has released its long-planned Draft Environmental Impact Statement on offshore training exercises in Southern California, including the use of mid-frequency active sonar. Recent legal challenges to the Navy training, in which a circuit court judge imposed additional restrictions on use […]
Navy Asked Supreme Court to Rule on Sonar Restrictions
April 8, 2008Navy Looks to Supreme Court for Sonar Relief – The US Navy has, as widely expected, asked the Supreme Court to review a decision by a Federal Appeals Court that upheld a lower court ruling imposing a larger buffer zone and other additional operational restrictions on its sonar training in southern California. The Justice Department petition […]
Hawaii Navy DEIS hearings in March
February 23, 2008Public Hearings Scheduled on Supplement to Draft EIS – The Navy has released a supplement to its Draft EIS for the Hawaii Range Complex, and is holding public hearings in March to collect public comments on the new aspects. Plans still hold to release the final EIS this spring, and a Record of Decision before the […]
Trumpistas target NOAA’s ocean noise oversight
May 15, 2017Tip o’ the hat to longtime partner in crime Ocean Conservation Research for catching this insult to the ears of whales, seals, fish, and crustaceans. As part of its hatchet-wielding rampage through America’s regulatory arena, the Trump administration has gone beyond “merely” making plans to re-open the Arctic to drilling and issue new permits for […]
Warming spurs new 400km undersea sound channel in Arctic
January 23, 2017In recent years, researchers have documented sound transmission across 400 kilometers, four times farther than before the emergence of this channel, dubbed the Beaufort Lens.
New maps offer more detail to ocean planners about how animal concentrations change during the year
March 8, 2016An ongoing challenge for ocean regulators has been our relatively coarse understanding of where ocean animals are at any given time. For many species, we’ve been limited to relatively broad-brush data, such as regional population estimates or having a moderately clear idea about particular feeding or breedings areas, with limited knowledge of where these same animals […]
Active sonars continue to proliferate; India is powering up next
June 2, 2015This week the Indian Navy confirmed its purchase of six low-frequency Active Towed Array Sonar (ACTAS) units, for use in tracking Chinese subs in the Indian Ocean. With a stated detection range of 60km (37mi), it appears that this system puts out far less sound than low frequency systems used by the US (SURTASS LFAS) […]
Ocean observatory audio streams: navies nix bits of data that scientists savor
October 11, 2014For several years, AEI has been excited about the ever-expanding networks of ocean observatories coming online around the world. A recent article on LiveScience detailed some of the benefits of the arrays of research stations deployed offshore by Ocean Network Canada, which collect all manner of data: physical, chemical, biological, geological, and acoustic. Their two […]
NJ sues Feds over academic seismic survey planned for July
July 7, 2014The State of New Jersey has gone to federal court to block a seismic survey planned for this month fifteen miles offshore. The survey, funded by the National Science Foundation, received its final permits from the National Marine Fisheries Service last week; the permit (similar to those issued routinely for oil and gas exploration or […]