Navy Sonar Alert -- a feint? Comments by Russell Hoffman -- March 30th, 2001
To Whom It May Concern,
The thing that really bothers me about the email shown below, about a Navy Sonar Alert, is that even for the scientists who have what I presume are, in fact, legitimate concerns at some level, it's out of perspective.
The Navy kills "untold numbers of marine animals" all the time, day by day, and does so with very little opposition. Yet about every 6 months or so, year after year, this item gets passed all around. What exactly is going on here?
I'm sure the Navy's silent-running nuclear subs smash into whales on a regular basis, for instance. Bomb testing, target practice against buoys or old boats -- it's all pretty bad for the marine life in peacetime, let alone during a war. But that's not the worst of it. And even the dumping of oil and garbage, the aviation fuel spills, and so on, which goes on daily, or the blowing up of ships that goes on during war (and during terrorist activities during peacetime, and occasionally by accident anytime) isn't the worst of it, either (except when it's nuclear ships which are blown up, which hasn't happened yet, but inevitably will sooner or later) -- the worst thing is the Navy dumping of nuclear waste into our fragile oceans. Most of it is intentional and not during war. Some of it is accidental. We've lost a few subs already, and the Russians have lost about half a dozen.
We haven't lost a nuclear sub in a few decades, but anyone with a lick of sense saw from the Greeneville incident that we will lose subs again sooner or later. We have not lost the last nuclear sub into our oceans and the Russians (who lost the Kursk most recently, (August, 2000)) will lose more too.
It's inevitable that there will be more accidents, unless these useless monstrosities are abandoned by all parties. Each nuclear accident pollutes for hundreds of thousands of years. The Sonar, if it is a problem (and I'm not saying it isn't) could be turned off tomorrow. If we have the power to change the Navy, let's at least fight for what matters the most -- what has the longest lasting, most far-reaching, most devastating consequences.
I'm sure the nuclear navies of the world are the most genocidal entities, corporations, whatever you want to call them, that have ever existed. But from Sonar? No, they're real threat to whales, dolphins, porpoises and fish life is from chemical and radioactive waste pollution. Which, incidentally, comes back to kill US, as bioaccumulation occurs up the food chain.
The Navy has long considered anything off the Continental Shelf pretty much fair dumping grounds for nuclear waste, everything from used submarines to barrels of oily radioactive rags. The only thing is, a lot of it never even got dumped that far from shore. It's a lot cheaper to drag it out less far than you're told to. And the contractor simply HAS TO make a profit!
This has been going on for 50 years. During that time we've learned that the whales dive much deeper than we thought and bottom feed more than expected. The scientists worried about Sonar probably now know the whales do this, but do they know about the dumping? We've discovered that the ocean floors at all depths are teaming with life. We've discovered lots of amazing things are in our oceans that we never knew about, but still we keep on dumping that waste there as if it was a bottomless, lifeless pit (it will be lifeless, if we keep it up). The average depth of the oceans on our 8,000-mile diameter planet is only about a mile. A tiny fraction. There just isn't that much water there! The deepest part is only about seven miles, and nuclear waste left only seven miles down is simply not very far away. The waters churn, move, are swept hither and yon.
Another thing we've learned in the 50 years since the Navy policy was enacted is that there are violent underwater storms, which sweep up everything in their path for miles around and deposit its elsewhere and churn it up. We didn't know that when the Navy started dumping nuclear waste at sea (including the vessels themselves, and definitely including them if they are lost during a war).
Yet time and again I hear about this Navy Sonar Alert. I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm simply saying that what the Navy does behind our backs is a million times more dangerous to the planet, including to the creatures whoever passes this around is trying to protect.
At least with the Sonar, if they turn it off it stops. With radioactive waste in our oceans, it just keeps polluting and polluting. We are effectively conceding the big fight by worrying our hats off about a comparatively little thing such as this (that is, when compared to the nuclear issue).
I would say we've fallen for what is called in the military a "feint". I wouldn't be surprised if the Navy fights FOR this Sonar simply to have something to give in on, to show their concern for public opinion and for the ocean environment. And to keep people worried about the wrong thing so they can keep polluting as they have been for decades.
Sorry if I've offended anyone, but it seems pretty obvious, if one looks at the big picture, that the "50 respected marine biologists" who have spoken out on this issue should be working 1000 times harder on much bigger Navy issues if they want to keep their oceans teaming with life for future study.
-- Russell Hoffman, STOP CASSINI editor, Carlsbad, California
At 12:55 PM 3/30/01 -0800, you wrote:
More military destruction of the ecosystem.
MARINE MAMMAL ALERT
>You have until May 1, 2001 to register your dismay that the U.S. Navy will >be permitted to injure and kill untold numbers of marine animals. The Navy's SURTASS LFA (low-frequency active sonar) will be deployed in most of the world's oceans unless enough people say NO. Over fifty respected marine >scientists from all over the U.S., Belgium, Italy, Spain, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa have independently written to the US NAVY as part of the environmental review process forced by a lawsuit in 1995. They have ALL stated that SURTASS LFA, and other extremely
>loud (over 140 dB) active sonar devices are lethal to marine mammals and
>probably other marine animals, and should not be used. Dr. Ken Balcomb, a
>highly respected biologist who worked as a Navy scientist in the 1960-'70's
>on whales and since then as the head of an independent whale research
>laboratory, was delegated to study the three species of cetaceans killed in
>the Bahamas during Navy sonar exercises in Spring 2000. He unequivocally
>has called for an end to all high-power sonar, including SURTASS LFA (230 dB),
>as these many devices are destroying untold numbers of marine animals.
>Hawaii, California, New Jersey, Georgia, and Delaware are on record as
>finding its use in their territorial waters would injure fish, marine
>mammals, and human beings. The only scientists missing in the roster of
>opposition are those who are paid by the US Navy. The mass media is being
>led around and lied to by the Navy. The Navy tries to paint the opposition
>as being some kind of hysterical monolithic cult, WHICH IT IS NOT. Only by
>thousands of concerned citizens pointing out that THE INDEPENDENT
>SCIENTIFI
>COMMUNITY KNOWS HIGH POWER SONAR DEVICES ARE VERY DANGEROUS will our
>decision makers be reached
>
>
>
>Please take four actions TODAY:
>
>
>
>1.Print, Fax and mail and email this notice to as many people as you can
>today
>
>
>
>2.Join the www.greenscissors.org <http://www.greenscissors.org/> campaign
>to stop funding for SURTASS LFA today
>
>
>
>3. Write and MAIL (no email will be accepted) to Donna Wieting, Chief,
>Marine Mammal Conservation Division, Office of Protected Resources,
>Nationa
>Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East West Highway, Silver Spring, MD
>20910-3226 toda
>
>
>
>4. Copy your letter to President G.W. Bush, your U.S. Senators and
>Representative in the House, and to your local newspaper today
>
>
>
>For more information visit the following web sites and request to be
>included on lfa networks
>
>www.nrdc.org <http://www.nrdc.org/> www.earthisland.org
><http://www.earthisland.org/> www.oceanfutures.com/jmc
><http://www.oceanfutures.com/jmc>
>
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