WANCHESE, N.C. (19 Mar 2006) -- James Ruhle said he often can tell when the Navy is running training exercises off Chesapeake Bay. Ruhle, of Wanchese, N.C., skippers a commercial fishing boat, the 90-foot "Darana R," just off the coast. His base of operations is Chesapeake Bay. "My radar goes nuts. My sounding equipment goes nuts" and the fish disappear, he said. So Ruhle said he is a little skeptical when Navy officials say it is unlikely that a proposal for sonar training off the Atlantic shoreline will not have significant impact on the behavior of fish and marine mammals like dolphins and whales. His concerns are similar to those being raised by national marine conservation activists who contend the Navy has not studied the health effects of sonar on fish and mammals, or the potential to change behavior such as migration patterns. Earlier this week, officials from the U.S. Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk outlined a proposed offshore sonar training operation at a meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. The agency, which includes officials from the mid-Atlantic region, manages fisheries in federal waters from New York to North Carolina. The Navy wants to build an underwater system allowing it to better train its sailors on state-of-the art equipment in settings similar to what they would expect to find in combat or a conflict. One of the sites being considered stretches into waters off of the Delaware coast. The Navy already has three sonar range training areas -- one off the coast of California, one off Hawaii and a third in the Bahamas. But they are used for deep-water training. The one they are proposing here would be tailored for training in shallow areas such as the Arabian Sea, South China Sea and Korean Sea. Shallow, by Navy standards, is water from 120 to 900 feet deep. The military wants to enhance its ability to pick up on what it views as a growing threat -- quiet, diesel or air-independent propulsion submarines. In a draft environmental impact statement released last year for the local sonar project, Navy officials said such subs "continue to proliferate in nondemocratic nations." A 500-square-mile grid The part of the operation based on land would be small -- little more than a small building to house electronics and the terminal end of an underwater cable. The offshore area would span 500 square miles. The Navy plans to install 300 transducers -- equipment that detects sound -- on the ocean floor across that 500-square-mile grid, spaced from one to three miles apart. The transducers themselves are large -- roughly the size of a small car -- and weigh about 2,500 pounds. A single cable would bring the sound data back to shore, where it would be transmitted to an operations center for review and analysis. Capt. Kelly Baragar, deputy director of fleet forces training with the U.S. Fleet Command in Norfolk, said a sonar training operation would begin with a submarine hiding within the 500-square-mile grid. A single ship, a combination of ships or ships and aircraft then would go out and look for the sub using sonar. Sonar is used to detect the movements of ships and submarines. Impact on marine life debated Some conservation groups worry that the intense sonar activity would have an impact on fish and marine mammals. Ruhle said he worries most about the potential impact on fish and whether Navy officials have a good understanding of how sonar and other electronic devices they use alter fish behavior. The Navy's draft environmental impact statement concludes that fish detect midfrequency sonar but "significant effects on fish are not anticipated." The study concluded there is no evidence the midrange sonar kills fish. The study also concluded that the impact on marine mammals would be negligible. Sonar link to beached whales? But last year, the Natural Resources Defense Council sued the Navy because of concerns that midfrequency sonar exposed marine mammals to dangerous levels of underwater noise. The environmental group asked that the Navy be required to take precautions to protect marine mammals. | | In January 2005, 37 whales beached on the North Carolina coast after a Navy sonar training exercise. The group describes midfrequency sonar as "ear-splitting" and compares the sound levels to the intensity of a Saturn V rocket at blastoff. In January 2005, 37 whales beached on the North Carolina coast after a Navy sonar training exercise. Navy officials said the training exercise was more than 200 miles away from where the strandings occurred. The National Marine Fisheries Services is investigating and Navy officials say they are cooperating. Baragar said the sound of sonar falls off very rapidly and, within 400 to 500 yards, is similar to sound levels that marine mammals use to communicate. On average, the Navy would hold 161 training exercises each year. Each exercise would last about six hours and sonar would not be used continuously. Baragar said there may be some behavior impact, but he likened it to a bird flying away from its nest and then returning. Baragar said Navy officials believe the sonar range also will give them a significant opportunity to study marine mammals. "We really believe we can cooperate environmentally and in a safe manner with the marine mammals," he said. The Navy plans to do two years of study, but some state regulators questioned whether that was enough time to gather useful data. Ruhle said he is not trying to be an obstructionist. "I recognize the need of training," he said. But he worries that Navy training activities were already affecting the migration of fish. "Something is changing," he said. The fish "may not hear it but they sense it. ... There's a lot of unanswered questions." Ruhle's brother, who fishes out of Peacedale, R.I., raised similar concerns. Phil Ruhle Sr. suggested Navy officials interview fishermen about what they see during and after training exercises. "We've seen some major changes when you do an exercise out there," he said. The Navy prefers the North Carolina location for the training area, but the Virginia location -- which includes waters off the Delaware Coast -- is its second option. The Florida site is the third choice. A final environmental impact statement is expected in the summer or fall. A decision on the location is expected from the secretary of the Navy in the fall. SOURCE - The News Journal |
