Whales, dolphins and other marine mammals depend on sound to navigate, find food, locate mates, avoid predators and communicate with each other. Blasting their environment with intense sound over large expanses of ocean disrupts these critical behaviors and threatens their survival.
Sonar also harms whales more directly: Navy exercises using mid-frequency sonar have resulted in whale strandings across the globe, including along the coasts of Washington State, the Canary Islands, the Bahamas, Madeira, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Greece. A recent whale stranding death in Hawaii, which occurred when a large pod of whales was driven in panic to shallow waters, took place with Navy sonar exercises nearby and may be the latest in this string of sonar casualties.
Whales should not have to die for military training. The Navy can no longer ignore the unnecessary harm inflicted by this technology. We urge the Navy to immediately adopt common-sense measures to keep whales safe.
