Menstuff® has compiled the following information on a U.S.
proposal to do away with the whale and dolphin populations.
Dear Friends of Dolphins,Whales and All Sea Life
On July 16th the Bush administration granted the Navy a permit to harm whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals while using its Low Frequency Active sonar system in as much as 80 percent of the world's oceans. The high-powered submarine detection system will operate at noise levels billions of times more intense than those known to disturb the migration and communication of large whales.
Although the administration agreed to impose some requirements on the Navy, the permit it issued remains far too broad to protect marine life in any meaningful way. As the Navy has failed to answer even some of the most fundamental questions about the system's potential threats to marine mammals and the ecosystem, this new permit is especially alarming.
In March, 2000, during a Mid- range frequency (rather than the Low Frequency bandwidth of LFAS) test in the Bahamas, four different species of whales and dolphins beached themselves suffering from hemorrhaging/bleeding in the ears. A National Marine Fisheries Service and Navy investigation determined the deaths were almost certainly caused by the LFA test. A follow-on study in February 2001, determined that at least one of those whale species no longer existed in the area.
Mid-range frequencies are already in use world-wide, and are now proven to be very dangerous in certain circumstances. The LFAS system is even more dangerous, as the sounds will propagate farther and be disabling at a greater distance.
Even the Navy acknowledges the danger of LFA. An internal study briefly exposed a 32 year old Navy diver to LFA sonar at a level significantly below what it is designed to operate. The diver had to be hospitalized, and two years later was still being treated with anti-depressant and anti-seizure medications.
Whales rely on their sensitive hearing for survival. A whale cannot survive without its hearing. The Navy's attempts to deploy LFA could result in the extermination of whales and dolphins world wide.
The US fight to stop international whaling efforts has been long and hard. It is hypocritical and absolutely wrong for the U.S. government to sanction the LFA sonar system that could lead to massive extinctions of marine animals. We demand the immediate halt to the deployment of LFA sonar!
Below are two websites you can go to to protest LFAS. They are quick and easy and will certainly make a difference!!!
Source: www.nrdc.org/wildlife/marine/nlfa.asp
adn the petition is at www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/129527570
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