Save the whales or protect the country?
 

Yeah been going on for a while that one
The USN was limited in its use of SURTASS LFA back in 2003
Was the subject of appeal at the time and never read any more on it

http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/marine/sonar.asp

Sometimes exceptions need to be made. In my view, watching the old news reels of the Cuban Missle Crisis and having 4 subs parked off the US coast with nuclear warhead torpedoes, I'm in favor of sonar development, testing and training at will!

Well, it's not quite as clean cut as "Save the whales OR protect the country".

There are plenty of compromises that can be made to achieve a happy medium.

What are they? Why aren't they being employed?

Things like continuing general sonar practice everywhere, but avoiding places
frequented by whales when conducting big Naval war games. (avoiding them
in the planning stage anyway).

Or more basic things like considering moving else where to conduct sonar drill
when a pod of whales has been seen next to the ship.
There isn't much sense in conducting sonar drill if there are 30+ whales only a few
hundred feet away if you can move else where to do the same drill.


"Why aren't they being employed?"
I don't know! I would suspect that whales are not on the Navy's priority list at all.
Clearly the navy has other more important priorities, but whales should be on the list
even if they are right on the bottom.


That said, I don't think it would be a huge loss to the ecosystem if a few specis of
whales died out. I doubt any one would notice at all unless they where looking for
whales!

[QUOTE=Letum]Welcome to the US Navy's Whales and Sonar website.

Now we can all get a slightly better idea of what's what. :know:

EDIT: from the site's summary fact page:

Navy Marine Mammal Protection Efforts

The U.S. Navy exercises caution when operating in areas likely to
contain marine mammals. Efforts to minimize potential effects on
marine mammals include the following:
· Tracking historical trends of marine mammal populations in
geographic areas where our ships operate
· Utilizing software tools that help operators determine if an
operating area has any particular aspects that could lead to harming
a marine mammal. This allows ships and aircraft to analyze the
training area where a specific exercise will take place and then use
protective measures as appropriate.
· Scanning for animals with passive sonar, trained shipboard
lookouts and available airborne assets prior to commencing an
exercise. Navy lookouts are skilled in spotting small objects at sea
under all conditions.
· Reducing sonar levels to 25% of operating power if whales or
dolphins are detected within 450 yards of a Navy vessel's sonar
dome
· Ceasing use of active sonar if a marine mammal if detected within
200 yards of an active source

So in essence, the Navy does attempt to avoid active whale pods, etc. Well then, if I'm sneaking in and trying to do it undetected, I will follow a whale pod! ;)

Wasn't the navy developing trained dolphins or something for spy use? I don't know if that was serious or on a comedy show... I can't remember...

Yea I doubt a branch of the armed forces is gonna give a crap about some stupid whales. Their job is to kill people ladies and gentlemen...:doh:

Oh....jolly good.....thats that then.

I believe dolphins were tested for military use, yes, but I disagree about them not giving a crap. I daresay the actual crew of a submarine would take such things into account in peacetime.