[CPEO-MEF] Navy says sonar in use when whales, porpoises seen leaving area

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Washington
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
Navy says sonar in use when whales, porpoises seen leaving area
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 14, 2003

SEATTLE -- The U.S. Navy says a guided-missile destroyer was using
powerful, mid-frequency sonar on May 5 as it traveled through the Haro
Strait to Vancouver Island - at the same time that some whale watchers
reported orcas and porpoises fleeing the area.

The Everett-based USS Shoup was using its tactical sonar as part of a
quarterly training exercise to search for and avoid submarines, mines
and other submerged objects, said spokeswoman Cmdr. Karen Sellers.

"Neither visual lookouts nor the ship's instruments detected the
presence of marine mammals in the immediate area," she said in a
statement Tuesday.

The sonar, called SQS-53C, is widely used by Navy ships, Sellers said.

Tom McMillen, a whale-watch operator who owns Salish Sea Charters, said
he saw about 20 orcas leaving the area, looking distressed. And as many
as 100 porpoises leapt through the water, heading away from the sound,
he said.

The Navy ended the sonar sweep when Canadian authorities reported
complaints from small-boat operators, Sellers said, but they made no
mention of marine mammals.

Sellers declined to comment on any connection between the sonar and the
behavior of the orcas and porpoises.

But Michael Jasney, a policy analyst with the National Resources Defense
Council in Los Angeles, said SQS-53C is the same type of sonar that has
caused strandings of marine mammals elsewhere.

It's unclear what about the mid-range sonar affects cetaceans, he said,
but "there have been strandings all over the world caused by Navy
sonar."

The Navy maintains there's no evidence to suggest a link between
strandings and the sonar, Sellers said, and it "remains committed to
being a good steward of the environment."

This article can be viewed at:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Sonar%20Whales

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~