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HELP
STOP THE WORLDWIDE DEPLOYMENT OF LFA SONAR,
A DEADLY THREAT TO WHALES AND OTHER MARINE LIFE!!!
LFA sonar is
a long range, low frequency active sonar system developed by the Navy
to track super-silent submarines. The problem with this technology
is that it produces very loud sounds that injures, deafens, and even
kills whales and other marine life.
As one marine mammal scientist succinctly put
it: "A deaf whale is a dead whale".
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The
other problem with this technology is that it is totally unnecessary.
The Navy has already developed passive sonar systems that detect silent
submarines with no adverse effects on marine life or marine ecosystems.
Cetaceans (dolphins, whales, and porpoises) live in an acoustic environment,
relying primarily on sound as we rely on sight. They depend on sound
for communication, navigation, feeding, mating, and predator detection.
Any noise introduced into their environment, where listening is synonymous
with survival, has the potential to interfere with their livelihood,
especially loud, low frequency sounds. |
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Many whales, including humpbacks, fins, grays, and blue whales,
utilize low frequency sound to communicate over vast distances.
Prior to the introduction of man-made sound, cetaceans produced
the loudest, naturally occurring sounds in the world.
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Studies have
shown that humpback whales singing in their wintering grounds off
Hawaii, Baja, and Japan, all sing the same song and change this song
at the same time indicating that they can hear each other even though
they are separated by thousands of miles. Another theory suggests
that blue whales in the Arctic can hear blue whales in the Antarctic
and visa-versa.
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LFA Sonar sound signals will travel across the same deep ocean sound
channels that carry these and other cetacean vocalizations and being
several magnitudes louder, could mask or disrupt this communication.
Furthermore, these sounds can disorient, deafen, injure, and even
kill whales and other marine life who happen to pass too closely to
the sound source.
LFA sonar produces very loud sounds (500 hertz (HZ) in excess of 235
decibels (dB)) and past research has shown that cetaceans start to
avoid sounds at 120 dB.
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To
address concerns raised by members of the environmental and scientific
community, the Navy funded a one-year research program to study the
effects of low frequency sound on marine mammals, in particular humpback,
blue, fin, and gray whales. Unlike the actual LFA Sonar array, which
utilizes a series of eighteen 235dB sound sources in series, the testing
was done with a single sound source which produced sounds of 150 dB
or less. Even at these much lower levels, a significant number of
the whales exposed to the sound changed their behaviors: |
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Over 70% of singing humpback whales stopped singing.
Over 50 % of vocalizing blue whales stopped vocalizing.
Over 30 % of vocalizing fin whales stopped vocalizing.
Migrating gray whales changed their route to avoid the sound.
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Yet the Navy
research concludes the following: "No biologically significant response,
Our recommendation is to proceed with the deployment of LFA Sonar".
Leading marine mammal experts, including the Marine Mammal Commission,
claim the Navy's limited study cannot tell us anything about the long
term affects that exposure to LFA Sonar may have on the communication,
navigating, feeding, mating and migration patterns of cetaceans and
other marine species. It is exactly these long-term effects on these
vital activities, say the experts, that pose the greatest risk of
pushing endangered species over the brink into extinction.
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Based on the results of the Navy's own research, one can only conclude
that a significant number of the whales tested did change their behaviors
when exposed to a single low frequency sound source of 150dB or less.
One can only guess as to how they might react to the actual LFA Sonar
system since exposure to the actual sonar was never tested.
Therefore, we must insist that the Navy stops deployment of LFA Sonar
and stop wasting our tax dollars!
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HERE'S
WHAT YOU CAN DO!
1. Send your comments to the US Navy and tell them that you do not want
them to deploy LFA Sonar because their own research shows adverse effects
on the whales studied.
Mr. Donald H. Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense 1000
Defense Pentagon Washington,
DC 20301-1000
Mr. Robert Pirie
Acting Secretary of the Navy
Washington, DC
20350-1000
2. Write, e-mail or
call President Bush letting him know that you do not want your tax dollars
spent on LFA Sonar because it threatens the health of whales and other
marine life.
White House Comment
Line: (202) 456-2461
White House Fax Line: (202) 456-2461
President Bush's e-mail address: president@whitehouse.gov
President Bush's mailing address:
President George W.
Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20500
3. Write or call your
Senators and Congressmen letting them know that you do not want your tax
dollars spent on LFA Sonar because it threatens the health of whales and
our oceans.
US Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Join The Whaleman Foundation
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