Underwater sonar pulses could harm undersea creatures. This is a fact ecologists and The US navy are very aware of. However when it comes to national security then whales and dolphins take second place.
The US navy has been using sonar for more than 40 years in anti submarine training in its coastal areas. Environmentalists raised a hue and cry when they realised that the whales and dolphins were losing their hearing. In extreme cases they lost their ability to navigate and find food and were stranded on the shore. This led to a court ruling in 2007 by the U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of Los Angeles.
She said that the protections were “woefully ineffectual and inadequate” and would leave nearly 30 species at risk, including five species of endangered whales. Her injunction was modified when the appeals court asked her to reconsider. She allowed commanders to reduce buffer zones during the training period.
This Wednesday the Supreme Court felt that not enough weightage had been given to national security. It accepted the appeal by the navy that this injunction would hinder detecting enemy submarines “Forcing the Navy to deploy an inadequately trained anti-submarine force jeopardizes the safety of the fleet,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. The resulting damage to the Navy and the public interest, he said, outweighs the injury that environmental groups that challenged the use of sonar might suffer from “harm to an unknown number of marine mammals that they study and observe.”
Navy officials declared victory. “This case was vital to our Navy and our nation’s security,” said Navy Secretary Donald Winter. “We can now continue to train our sailors effectively, under realistic combat conditions, and certify our crews ‘combat ready’ while continuing to be good stewards of the marine environment.”
