IFAW and NRDC Applaud EP Resolution on Saving Whales from Naval Sonar

[Guest guest]

Good morning,

 

Here is some good news for whales and other marine mammals. The European

Parliament is showing strong support in regulating high intensity navy sonar

use. Sound is crucial to whales, dolphins and porpoises and other marine species

for navigation, communication and finding food, any disturbance that undermines

their ability to transmit or recognize sounds may jeopardize their capacity to

function and, over the long term, to reproduce and survive. Sonar and other

forms of ocean noise may also be linked to whale strandings. Regulating ocean

noise is a positive step toward protecting whales and their environment.

 

Let me know if you have any questions,

 

Kerry

 

Kerry Branon

Communications Coordinator

International Fund for Animal Welfare

75 Attucks Lane

Hyannis, MA 02601

508-744-2068

kbranon

www.ifaw.org <http://www.ifaw.org/>

 

IFAW and NRDC Applaud EP Resolution on Saving Whales from Naval Sonar

 

10/28/2004 10:22:00 AM

 

_____

 

National Desk, Environment Reporter

 

Contact: Gunther Pauls +32-02-282-06-96 or 0473-863-461, or

<http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=39040 & Link=gpauls@ifa\

w.org> gpauls; or Gaia Angelini, +32-02-237-60-52 or 0473-985165, or

<http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=39040 & Link=gangelini@\

ifaw.org> gangelini, all of International Fund for Animal Welfare; or

Daniel Hinerfeld of NRDC, +1-310-434-2303, or

<http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=39040 & Link=dhinerfeld\

@nrdc.org> dhinerfeld Web:

<http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=39040 & Link=http://www.ifaw.o\

rg> http://www.ifaw.org

 

STRASBURG, Austria, Oct. 28 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In adopting a Resolution on the

environmental effects of high-intensity active naval sonars, the European

Parliament has shown its strong support for the need to regulate and reduce one

of the most significant threats to whales.

 

An overwhelming majority of MEPs called on the EU Member States to:

 

Pursue the adoption of moratoriums and restrictions on the use of high-intensity

active sonars in naval operations, including within the framework of NATO;

 

Develop alternative technologies;

 

Immediately restrict the use of high-intensity active sonars in waters under

their jurisdiction.

 

The resolution also urges the European Commission to conduct studies on the

potential impact of active sonar on the marine environment, to assess the

effects of current practices in EU waters and develop legislation for the

European Union.

 

Used to detect and localize underwater targets, military active sonar can

significantly harm marine life. Working like a floodlight, it emits sound waves

that can sweep across hundreds of kilometers in the ocean. This requires the use

of extremely loud sound, which has been likened to that produced by a rocket at

takeoff. Such a noise can injure whales' sensitive organs and even kill them.

Among the most dramatic impacts associated with high-intensity sonar is mass

stranding of whales.

 

" The increasing use of active sonar by militaries around the world threatens the

survival of numerous marine species, including entire populations of whales and

porpoises " , said Frederick O'Regan, president of the International Fund for

Animal Welfare (IFAW). " This is a global problem that must be solved through

international cooperation, and the resolution adopted today by the European

Parliament is a significant step toward that goal. "

 

Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas said: " There can be little doubt that these sonar

devices are responsible for the deaths of thousands of marine mammals, some of

them endangered and protected species. "

 

As sound is crucial to whales, dolphins and porpoises and other marine species

for navigation, communication and finding food, any disturbance that undermines

their ability to transmit or recognize sounds may jeopardize their capacity to

function and, over the long term, to reproduce and survive.

 

There are also other sources of harmful noise (e.g. shipping, drilling and

construction noise, ship propellers, sea-bed explorations and extraction

activities) in the marine environment, and these are currently unregulated in

the European Union, although any energy source (noise) is recognized as a form

of pollution under UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).

 

" This is a landmark in the international battle to protect marine life from

needless harm and death caused by high intensity military sonar, " said Joel

Reynolds, Director of the Marine Mammal Protection Protect at NRDC (Natural

Resources Defense Council). " It is an unequivocal expression of the democratic

will of the people of Europe, recognizing that nations can protect their own

security and simultaneously safeguard the health of our oceans simply by using

common sense steps to prevent injury from high intensity sonar during training

and testing. "

 

In a series of initiatives, including resolutions from ACCOBAMS (Agreement on

the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous

Atlantic Area) and ASCOBANS (Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of

the Baltic and North Seas), the EP resolution bears witness to the momentum the

problem of noise at sea has gained in political fora.

 

Ocean noise will thus be high on the agenda of two upcoming events:

 

The second Meeting of the Parties to ACCOBAMS (9 to 12 November 2004 in Palma de

Mallorca) will vote on a resolution on the harmful effects of military sonar on

marine life.

 

The final stakeholders meeting on the EU Marine Strategy (hosted by the Dutch

Presidency in Rotterdam, 10-12 November 2004) will debate major threats to the

marine environment prior to the publication of an official Proposal on this

issue by the European Commission.

 

Although underwater noise is not formally included in the working document of

the stakeholders meeting, IFAW urges participants and the European Commission to

consider underwater noise as a serious but yet unregulated form of pollution in

our seas.

 

---

 

EDITORS NOTE:

 

Recent whale deaths and strandings associated with the use of high-intensity

sonar:

 

---

 

Greece, Kyparissiakos Gulf (12-13 May 1996)

 

Stranded: 12 beaked whales

 

Killed: At least 8

 

---

 

Bahamas, Northeast and Northwest Providence Channels (15-16 March 2000)

 

Stranded: 17 of multiple species

 

Killed: At least 7

 

There is evidence that the entire population of beaked whales in this area was

killed or displaced

 

---

 

Canary Islands, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote (24th September 2002)

 

Stranded: 14 beaked whales (various species)

 

Killed: 11 beaked whales.

 

At least six of eight previous cases of beaked whale strandings in the Canary

Islands (since 1985) coincided with military exercises.

 

<http://www.usnewswire.com/> http://www.usnewswire.com/

 

 

 

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