LFA sonar systems violate the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Rakesh Agrawal ‘Ridh’
Whales are supposed to talk to each other, even when they are through thousands of miles away, producing a kind of ultrasonic whistle. However, the exploding sea traffic, especially navy ships and submarines were supposed to adversely disturb it, marine biologists and scientists claimed. Now, a court in the United States has ruled that it does and navy sonar used In 70 Percent of such ships and subs in the world’s oceans hurts whales(See:http://www.techtimes.com/articles/170611/20160719/us-court-rules-navy-sonar-used-in-70-percent-of-worlds-oceans-hurts-whales.htm#sthash.QaQkQG3K.dpuf).
Low-frequency active (LFA) sonar systems used in areas covering 70 percent of the world’s oceans are harming, just not whales, but the entire marine life population, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California ruled that the use of LFA sonar systems violates the Marine Mammal Protection Act and negatively affects dolphins, seals, whales and walruses that depend on underwater sound for navigation.
Following the ruling the US Navy will no longer be permitted to use LFA sonar systems to detect the presence of submarines.
This is indeed a victory for the American environmentalists who argued that the sonar systems disrupt the feeding and mating of marine animals that rely on sound to catch prey and communicate.
According to naval experts, the navy sonar systems can generate 235 decibels sound waves that can travel for hundreds of miles underwater and can maintain an intensity of 140 decibels up to 300 miles (482 kilometers) from the source.
Now, whales and marine lives can have a sigh of relief, but only partially as other noticeable sea powers like Britain, France, Russia, China, Japan and India are not bound by this ruling and may continue business as usual.
Anyway, it seems that the whales are celebrating this ruling and are partying as a rare Arctic Bowhead Whale came out of the surface and was seen for only the second time in history (See: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/158873/20160518/rare-arctic-bowhead-whale-seen-for-only-the-second-time-in-history.htm#sthash.mfhKrbFx.dpuf)
A 23-foot-long bowhead whale was spotted on the last Sunday off the Cornwall coast, in the shallow section of Long Rock Beach in Britain. The rarely filmed creature appears for the first time after 15 months, when it was seen off the Isles of Sicily.