Thursday, January 26, 2012

Groups sue over Navy sonar use, effect on whales

FILE - A beached pilot whale is seen in this Jan. 15, 2005 file photo taken near Oregon Inlet on North Carolina's Outer Banks by the U.S. Coast Guard. In a lawsuit being filed Thursday Jan. 26, 2012 by the environmental law firm Earthjustice, the Natural Resources Defense Council and other groups claim the National Marine Fisheries Service was wrong to approve the Navy?s plan for the expanded training in the Pacific Northwest. Regulators determined that while sonar use by navies has been associated with the deaths of whales around the world _ including the beachings of 37 whales on North Carolina?s Outer Banks in 2005 _ there was little chance of that happening in the Northwest. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, File)

FILE - A beached pilot whale is seen in this Jan. 15, 2005 file photo taken near Oregon Inlet on North Carolina's Outer Banks by the U.S. Coast Guard. In a lawsuit being filed Thursday Jan. 26, 2012 by the environmental law firm Earthjustice, the Natural Resources Defense Council and other groups claim the National Marine Fisheries Service was wrong to approve the Navy?s plan for the expanded training in the Pacific Northwest. Regulators determined that while sonar use by navies has been associated with the deaths of whales around the world _ including the beachings of 37 whales on North Carolina?s Outer Banks in 2005 _ there was little chance of that happening in the Northwest. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, File)

(AP) ? A group of conservationists and American Indian tribes is suing over the U.S. Navy's expanded use of sonar in training exercises off the country's west coast, saying the noise can harass and kill whales and other marine life.

In a lawsuit being filed Thursday, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice and other groups claim the National Marine Fisheries Service was wrong to approve the Navy's plan for the expanded training. They say the regulators should have considered the effects repeated sonar use can have on species over many years.

They want certain restrictions on where and when the Navy can conduct sonar and other loud activities to protect orcas, humpbacks and other marine mammals.

The Navy is only required to look around and see if whales are present before they conduct the training.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2012-01-26-Navy-Whales/id-10d04de30bf54e2e905b422f04046558

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