One for the Mammals

Fred Felleman

In a ruling likely to affect the Navy�s plans to expand sonar use off the Washington coast, the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today ordered the service to stop using a high-intensity sonar off Southern California until its likely harm to marine mammals can be safely resolved. The court reinstituted a preliminary injunction, effective in January, that had been stayed during a current naval exercise.

As we reported in September, the Navy has similar plans for sonar use off the coast here and perhaps within Puget Sound as part of a proposal to deploy more unmanned vehicles and expand underwater demolitions and war gaming.

�The court�s decision [today] prevents the needless infliction of harm to whales and other marine species during the Navy�s training off our coast," said Joel Reynolds, director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which filed the lawsuit.