Whales to gain 'long-sought protections' as navy limits sonar use, activists say (x-post)
Source: The Guardian
Whales to gain 'long-sought protections' as navy limits sonar use, activists say
Joseph Mayton
Monday 14 September 2015 23.21 BST
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”.
The settlement announced on Monday establishes new regulations from 2018 that the navy must abide by when conducting activities in the water.
In March, a US district court in Hawaii found that the National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) improperly gave approval to the navy’s use of sonar in the Pacific, an issue long contested by environmental groups that allege sonar is causing damage to marine animals’ migration patterns, feeding locations, breeding and ability to hear and communicate. The navy uses sonar for training, to simulate real-life situations in the ocean.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/14/whales-dolphins-california-hawaii-us-navy-sonar
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