Sonar seeks whales, but harmful or helpful?

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

MSNBC
Sonar seeks whales, but harmful or helpful?
Conservationists take Navy-backed testing to court
By Terence Chea
Updated: 10:29 a.m. ET Feb. 04, 2004

ABOARD THE RV NEW HORIZON - In a boat off the central California coast,
scientists huddle around a computer screen sprinkled with slow-moving
white dots, each one representing a migrating whale detected with sonar.

The researchers are testing an experimental sonar system, designed to
detect any Pacific Gray Whales within a one-mile radius using
high-frequency sound waves that are believed to work above their normal
hearing range.

Researchers at Scientific Solutions Inc., the New Hampshire firm that
developed the system, say the sonar appears to work, detecting marine
mammals more reliably than other methods without causing the whales to
break away from their migratory path or otherwise show signs of injury.

Still, some environmentalists worry that the sonar's impact on whales
isn't fully understood -- that despite the findings of an environmental
assessment that enabled the testing to proceed, the sonar could distress
the whales, drive them from their habitat or separate migrating calves
from their mothers.

"There's no way to know what the long-term effects on the whales will
be," said Robin Mankey of San Francisco-based Sea Sanctuary, one of five
environmental groups whose request for an injunction was denied by a
federal judge. "There's no way to know if they're washing up dead on the
beach or sinking in the ocean."

Supporters say a reliable high-frequency sonar could help protect whales
from a variety of ocean hazards: long-range military sonar; collisions
with ships; underwater demolitions; Navy battle simulations involving
live explosives; and seismic mapping by oil and gas companies.

"Nobody wants to go out and kill whales," said Bob Gisiner, who manages
the marine mammal program of the Defense Department's Office of Naval
Research, which has funded most of the $2 million project. "I don't
understand how any group that's interested in the conservation of marine
mammals would not be interested in seeing this sonar developed."

This article can be viewed at:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4134761/

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