LOS ANGELES (OCTOBER 13, 2003) -- In a groundbreaking accord with conservation and animal welfare groups, the U.S. Navy has agreed to scale back deployment of a dangerous new kind of high-intensity sonar system.
From left, Joel Reynolds, director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project at NRDC; Jean-Michel Cousteau, president of Ocean Futures Society; Pierce Brosnan, actor and conservationist; and Frederick O'Regan, president of IFAW.
The National Marine Fisheries Service last year issued a permit to the Navy to use its Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active (or LFA) sonar in over 75 percent of the world's oceans, but a federal judge ruled in August that the government violated numerous federal environmental laws in doing so, and that the system could endanger whales, porpoises and fish. The judge ordered the parties to negotiate a stipulated injunction. The agreement announced today caps an eight-year battle over protection of marine life from this potentially lethal sonar, which uses extremely loud, low-frequency sound to detect submarines at great distances.
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Navy Agrees To Limit Global Sonar Deployment (10/13/2003)