(photo credit: devra)
From The Guardian:
A federal court has ordered a settlement in two cases that challenged the United States navy’s training and testing activities off the coasts of Hawaii and Southern California.
Environmental legal aid organization Earthjustice tells the Guardian that the settlement will secure “long-sought protections for whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals by limiting navy activities in vital habitats”.
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According to Earthjustice, the deal will prohibit the navy “from using mid-frequency active sonar for training and testing activities in important habitat for beaked whales between Santa Catalina Island and San Nicolas Island” and “from using mid-frequency active sonar for training and testing activities in important habitat for blue whales feeding near San Diego”. It also requires that “surface vessels must use ‘extreme caution’ and travel at a safe speed to minimize the risk of ship strikes in blue whale feeding habitat and migratory corridors for blue, fin, and gray whales.”
http://www.theguardian.com/...
Unfortunately, according to the article, the new restrictions on sonar use won't go into effect until 2018. But with positive reactions to the settlement from both Earthjustice and the Ocean Mammal Institute, it is surely better than nothing.
As the slogan to ban Navy sonar testing says, "a deaf whale is a dead whale".
Three cheers for the conservation organizations (including Greenpeace and NRDC) who brought legal action in this case.
No kayakers or whales were harmed in the following video: