Navy exercises threaten Southern California coast

By: MICHAEL STOCKER - Commentary | Friday, January 5, 2007 7:09 PM PST ∞

In October, for the first time ever, the U.S. Navy filed a Consistency Determination with the California Coastal Commission regarding its biannual "U.S. Pacific Fleet military training exercises." Designed to train Navy and Marine forces in "coordinated deployment and preparedness exercises," similar exercises have been taking place on the coast and in the waters of Southern California since the 1920s. Under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, all federal agencies are required to file a Consistency Determination to certify that their activities affecting the coastal zone are consistent with state policies.

This is the first time that the Navy has submitted a Consistency Determination for an exercise that it has conducted for the last 80 years ---- an indication that Navy policies are beginning to take environmental stewardship into consideration. Because these exercises have such a long history, we would expect that the Navy's assessment of environmental risk would be informed and accurate ---- except for one other "first" in this Determination: This is the first time that the Navy has proposed using mid-frequency active sonar off the coast of California.

The mid-frequency active sonar increasingly deployed by the Navy comprises a new set of technologies. These technologies have been deployed only in the past few years, which have seen a dramatic rise in marine mammal strandings coincident with naval exercises. The beaked whale strandings in the Bahamas and the Canary Islands, the Orcas incident in the Haro Strait and the Hanalei Bay melon-headed whale incident ---- just to name a few ---- have been associated with or directly tied to the use of mid-frequency active sonar.

The Navy maintains that the mid-frequency sonar will be deployed only off of San Clemente Island ---- outside of the Coastal Commission's jurisdiction. But any animals maimed or killed by this sonar are likely to end up on the beaches of Southern California ---- well within the Commission's management zone.

And what can we expect from the Navy? The recent Navy report on the Hanalei Bay incident attempts to distance the concurrent international naval "RIMPAC" exercises from culpability, implicating the "full moon" or "boaters and surfers" as other possible causes. While the recent rough-tooth dolphin strandings in the Florida Keys and the multispecies stranding in North Carolina both occurred within the area and time period of U.S. Navy sonar exercises, the Navy has denied its role in them.

These strandings are a tragedy in and of themselves. However, the international attention and huge management and cleanup costs that these incidents incur point to a need for increased vigilance around the Navy's use of these technologies. We understand the need to prepare our forces with the best available technology and training, but at what cost? There was a time not long after the "successful" use of the atomic bomb that the Army considered issuing small tactical nuclear weapons to foot soldiers. If a weapon could decisively end a confrontation, this was surely it. Fortunately, calmer minds prevailed, and the planet was saved for other torments.

Mid-frequency sonar may represent the "best available technology" for its task, but given its deathly impact on marine animals, alternative technologies must be developed. We encourage calmer minds to step forward and halt the use of this sinister technology.

The next and final Coastal Commission hearing on this issue will take place Jan. 11-13 at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach, 200 S. Pine Ave., Long Beach, CA 90802.

Michael Stocker is science advisor to Seaflow (www.seaflow.org), a San Francisco-based nonprofit group dedicated to protecting whales, dolphins and all marine life from active sonars and other lethal ocean noise pollution.

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