Limited use of sonar irksome to orcas OK'd

A loud, screechy Navy sonar that disturbed orcas and panicked other marine mammals near the San Juan Islands can be used -- with limits -- in a naval war exercise near Hawaii this month, under terms of a lawsuit settlement approved Friday.

The midfrequency active sonar can't be deployed within 25 miles of a newly proposed marine sanctuary. In addition, two sailors will be assigned to watch for marine mammals on vessels using the sonar in deep underwater canyons such as Haro Strait, near the San Juans, where the sounds appear to bounce around and harm killer whales and other creatures.

All other ships involved in the war games will post a special lookout to watch for marine mammals. Navy pilots also will be required to keep their eyes peeled and report any sightings.

The Navy had previously said it wouldn't operate the sonar inside the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, but hadn't offered to buffer the area, which is expected to become the planet's largest marine sanctuary.

"The lawsuit stands for the proposition that the U.S. Navy is not above the law and has to comply," said Joel Reynolds, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, which was involved in the case.

"We've tried to negotiate the most additional protection measures we could under the circumstances. Is it everything we'd like to get? No. Is it the best we can achieve in the context of this particular case? Yes."

Environmentalists are pursuing a separate and broader legal action to protect marine mammals from the sonar. This ruling affected only the June 26-July 28 Rim of the Pacific anti-submarine warfare exercise.

The Navy said it had agreed to "a small number of additional mitigation measures" based on the decision by U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper in Los Angeles to restrict its use. The main purpose of the exercise for U.S. and allied sailors is to learn how to search out super-quiet new subs.

"It is critically important that we have been able to turn active sonar on for the rest of the RIMPAC exercise," said Rear Adm. James Symonds, director of environmental readiness for the Navy. "We want to ensure that the U.S. Navy and its partner navies get the benefit of this opportunity to train in anti-submarine warfare."

The Navy obtained an exemption to the Marine Mammal Protection Act from the Pentagon, but the judge ruled that the service had failed to satisfy another statute, the National Environmental Policy Act.

Sonar is thought to harm whales, orcas and other marine mammals that have sensitive hearing and use their own sonarlike ability known as "echolocation" to find prey. Marine mammals were harmed or killed near at least 11 naval exercises worldwide since 1998, including similar war games in the Hawaiian Islands in 2004.

The Navy admitted that sonar probably killed whales in one of those exercises, in the Bahamas in 2000.

The incident in the San Juans occurred in 2003, when the guided missile destroyer USS Shoup used the sonar at a level that witnesses said could be heard above the water more than 10 miles away.

The sound caused orcas and Dall's porpoises to uncharacteristically huddle in shallow waters, witnesses said. A minke whale swam off as if in a panic, and in ensuing days a large number of dead porpoises were found on area beaches.

P-I reporter Robert McClure can be reached at 206-448-8092 or robertmcclure@seattlepi.com.

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