A new plan developed by the Navy puts thousands of whales and other marine life in danger due to new high-intensity sonar set to be used during training exercises. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the sonar has already been identified as the root cause of death in thousands of whales all around the globe. Even the Navy’s own Environmental Review links the use of the sonar to hundreds of deaths, thousands of lung injuries and millions of cases of temporary hearing loss.
The mid-frequency sonar’s effects include blasting the ocean with noise that is billions of times stronger than natural aquatic sound, often causing whales’ internal organs to hemorrhage. In order to escape the immediate pain, many whales are forced to leave crucial feeding and mating grounds, further endangering the whale’s lifeline on our planet. While blue whales and North Atlantic right whales already suffer from dwindling populations, this sonar could make the difference in their recovery or extinction.
The NRDC has begun filing suit against the Navy to protect the ocean’s marine life from further assault. For more information on how to get involved in the NRDC’s efforts to save the whales, you can make a tax-deductible donation by visiting their campaign website at www.savethewhales.org. You can also contact your members of Congress in Washington to make sure they are aware of this problem.
Source: NRDC
