Green Party Challenges Navy Plan to Resume LFA Testing

In response to a letter from Dr. Marsha Green of the Ocean Mammal Institute, Dr. Robert Gisiner of the United States Navy Office of Naval Research sent an email confirming that the Navy intends to conduct further low frequency active sonar (LFAS) tests on whales. Dr. Green's letter and Dr. Gisiner's email are reproduced below.

In 1998, the Navy succeeded in having suits challenging LFAS testing off Hawai`i dismissed by representing to the courts that the Navy had completed the underlying research and did not intend to do any more testing. In one such suit, the Hawai`i County Green Party sued the Navy and others seeking injunctions to stop the testing.

In his email, Dr. Gisiner states:

• The Navy intends to conduct further LFA tests in the marine environment.

• The planning for those tests involves the Office of Naval Research and the Program Manager for the environmental impact statement process.

• Those tests will possibly take place in Hawaiian waters.

• Those tests will target endangered species.

• If further tests are conducted in Hawaiian waters, the testing may attempt to achieve a received level on whales of an intensity up to 10,000 times greater than the intensity of most of the received levels in the 1998 testing off Hawaii. (180 dB compared to 140 dB). That testing led to whales leaving the test area, which also is one of their favorite breeding and calving grounds.

• Testing may also be conducted on Sperm Whales in the Azores and Beaked Whales in the Azores or Dominica.

  In response to this change in the Navy's position regarding future testing, the Hawai`i County Green Party filed a motion on Tuesday, March 14 to reopen the 1998 case.

  An action alert is also being circulated calling upon Congress to request a General Accounting Office audit of the entire SURTASS LFA program. You are invited to join that effort.

  The letter from Dr. Marsha Green

  February 24, 2000

  Robert Gisiner, Ph.D.
  Marine Mammal Science Program
  Office of Naval Research, Room 823BCT
  1800 N. Quincy StreetArlington, VA 22217-5660

  Dear Dr. Gisiner:

  Perhaps you remember I spoke with you about LFA sonar at the biennial conference of the Marine Mammal Society in Maui in December, 1999. At that time you said you thought you might do more testing of LFA sonar on beaked and sperm whales. I was wondering if you are still considering those tests and if you have a time line for them. I’d appreciate any feedback you can give me.

  Sincerely,

  /s/
  Marsha L. Green, Ph.D.

  The Gisiner email response:

  Subject: future LFA SRP
  Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2000 15:32:28 -0500
  From: "Gisiner, Robert"
  To: "'Green, Marsha'"

  Marsha -

  Got your letter today. I hope you'll fogive an e-mail reply; I find if I don't do things right away I often forget.

  I do plan on collaborating with Joe Johnson to support more controlled exposure studies ('playbacks') to shed light on effects of LF sounds, such as SURTASS LFA, on marine animals.

  Though not firm yet, we are planning a study of sperm whales, probably in the Azores, probably late summer (July-Aug). Jonathan Gordon will be assisting with local contacts at the university and the whalewatchingprofessionals, as well as in experimental design and data collection. He and Peter Tyack will be arranging the types of observation and data collections efforts; aerial surveys, passive acoustics, vessel-based focal follow and visual observation, attachment of acoustic datalogger tags or simple TDRs.

  Since the site is in the Atlantic we will not be working from the Cory, but will be leasing a boat and using either one of the LFA sources as we did in SRP II (gray whales) or a similar LF sound source. The signal characteristics will be the same as in previous SRPs, in order to facilitate comparison of the data. The basic protocol will also likely be the same; a staircase procedure starting with received levels of 110-120 dB and stepping up incrementally to around 150-155, one to two focal follows per day starting with two hours of baseline behavioral data collection prior toramping up the sound source, independent single or double blind controlled observations from the source and focal follow vessel for about two hours,followed by two hours of post exposure monitoring. Based on the outcome of the preceding three SRPs many people have been encouraging us to go to RLs of 160 dB (re 1 microPascal) or higher, but 1) we've found that its very hard to get those received levels on the animal even with source levels of 200 + dB and 2) with a new species and new location I don't want to assume too much based on a different species and place. If we went back to Hawaiito follow up on the humpback work I might want to try to get some 160-180 dB exposures if other interested parties like you agreed, but in a new site I want to start very conservative and work up very slowly.

  I think I speak for all of the participants when I say that we also have a standing interest in obtaining similar acoustic effects info for beaked whales, if we can find a population that is large enough and reliable enoughto give us some assurance that several hundred thousand dollars of ship and people time will produce some useable data. If the animals are indeed very spooky around sound and likely to bolt and injure or beach themselves I don't want to work in bays or nearshore areas where animals might be at more risk than in an open ocean scenario. Both the Azores and Dominica (in theCaribbean) offer the possibility of beaked whales in the area and open water, but unless we get very lucky once we're on site, or we get more background info to direct our energies effectively, we will stick with sperm whales for now and hope to test beaked whales some time in the near future after we know where to go.

  That's the plan, in a nutshell. Thanks for your interest and don't hesitate to contact me if you have further questions or comments.

  Best wishes,

  Bob

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