Opinion ID: 3051262
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The SOCAL Exercises and the Effect of MFA

Text: Sonar on Marine Mammals The scheduled SOCAL exercises consist of seven Composite Training Unit Exercises (“COMPTUEX”), which last three to four weeks each, and seven Joint Tactical Force Exercises (“JTFEX”), which last approximately ten days each. The exercises, which involve the use of multiple surface ships, aircraft and submarines, are part of the “integrated” training phase of the Navy’s Fleet Response Training Plan, in which individual naval units — ships, submarines and aviation squadrons — learn and demonstrate skills as members of a strike group.6 Declaration of Captain Martin N. May (“May 6 The Navy employs two types of strike groups. A carrier strike group generally consists of an aircraft carrier and five surface combatant ships. May decl. ¶ 5. An expeditionary strike group includes surface combatant ships and an amphibious ready group. Id. A strike group starts developing skill sets at the individual ship, submarine, or aviation squadron level by conducting unit-level training. Id. ¶ 6. As skill levels increase, units coordinate training with other units. Id. Prior NRDC v. WINTER 2091 decl.) ¶ 6. In a COMPTUEX exercise a strike group must demonstrate that it is capable of operating in a “complicated threat-based scenario environment that simulates real world situations.” Id. In a JTFEX exercise, which follows the COMPTUEX exercise and typically includes other Department of Defense services and Allied Forces, the focus is on “mission planning and strategy and on the orchestration of integrated maneuvers, communication and coordination.” Id. ¶ 7. Upon completion of the integrated training phase the Fleet Commander is able to certify that a strike group is ready for deployment. Id. According to the Navy, the ability to execute antisubmarine warfare (“ASW”) is critical to a Commander’s certification of a strike group. Id. Improving ASW is the Pacific Fleet’s top “war-fighting” priority because of the proliferation of extremely quiet diesel electric submarines throughout the world.7 Id. ¶ 11; Dec. 14, 2007 Declaration of Rear Admiral John M. Bird (“Bird. Decl”) ¶ 16. In turn, an important part of ASW is the use of active sonar, a technology which the Navy deems absolutely necessary to detect today’s extremely quiet submarines. The type of active sonar, the use of which to commencing the “integrated” phase of the Navy’s training plan, the individual units comprising a strike group must be trained and attain proficiency in the “basic” phase of the training plan. Id. ¶ 25. During the “integrated” training phase, an individual unit learns and demonstrates skills as a team member of the strike group. Following completion of the “integrated” phase, strike groups enter the “sustainment” phase of the training plan. Id. This phase continues through the strike group’s scheduled deployment and post-deployment periods and ends with the commencement of the “maintenance” phase, during which the ships comprising the strike group undergo maintenance and modernization. Id. ¶¶ 24, 25. 7 We note that neither quiet submarines, nor the use of active sonar to detect them, are new technologies. According to the Navy’s Environmental Assessment (“EA”), active sonar was used effectively against German U-boats during World War II, and during the Cold War technological developments in active sonar were “critical” for tracking sophisticated Soviet submarines. 2092 NRDC v. WINTER NRDC challenges, is mid frequency active sonar; other categories of active sonar are low-frequency active sonar and high-frequency active sonar.8 Active sonar involves a vessel or other sonar source emitting a loud noise underwater and then listening for whether the noise comes back to the source, indicating that the noise may have bounced off the hull of a previously undetected submarine. According to the Navy, active sonar has two important advantages over passive sonar, which merely involves listening for noise made by submarines themselves: active sonar gives both the bearing and the distance of the target submarine, while passive sonar gives only the bearing;9 and active sonar allows the Navy to target submarines that emit sound at levels below those of the surrounding marine environment. Bird decl. ¶ 9. Accordingly, the Navy has concluded that in certain environments, including shallow coastal waters where ambient noise levels are high, MFA sonar allows better detection of quiet submarines than passive sonar. May decl. ¶¶ 9, 14. According to the Navy, personnel using MFA sonar must train with it regularly, under realistic conditions, and in a variety of situations. May decl. ¶ 10. The Navy therefore trains with MFA sonar in the ASW exercises that constitute an important component of the SOCAL exercises. The SOCAL exercises are conducted in the Navy’s training ranges off the coast of southern California (“the Southern California Operating Area”). This area is located in biologically 8 According to the Navy, low-frequency active sonar is transmitted at frequencies between 0.1 kHz and 1.0 kHz; mid-frequency active sonar at frequencies between 1.0 kHz and 10.0 kHz; and high-frequency active sonar at frequencies greater than 10.0 kHz. Bird decl. ¶ 12; May decl. ¶ 9. 9 Active sonar allows a calculation of the distance of a target submarine by considering the speed at which the sonar sound moves through water and the time it takes for emitted sonar sound to travel to the target and back. Bird decl. ¶ 12. NRDC v. WINTER 2093 diverse waters. At least thirty-seven species of marine mammals are found there, with the most common being various species of dolphin and whale, as well as the California sea lion. Nine of those species are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.: the blue whale, fin whale, humpback whale, Northern Pacific right whale, sei whale, sperm whale, sea otter, Stellar sea lion, and Guadalupe fur seal. In addition, up to eight species of beaked whale are found in the Southern California Operating Area. A study submitted by NRDC classifies the California coastal waters as a “key area” for beaked whales because over 25% of all beaked whale species are found there.10 The Navy acknowledges in its EA that MFA sonar may affect both the physiology and behavior of marine mammals. Exposure to “very high” acoustic energy levels may impair the functioning of marine mammals’ visual system, vestibular system and internal organs, and may cause injury to their lungs and intestines. However, the primary physiological effects of MFA sonar are on marine mammals’ auditory system: very high sound levels may rupture the eardrum or damage small bones in the middle ear, but even exposure to lower levels of sound may cause permanent or temporary hearing loss. Several studies suggest that active sonar may also cause a form of decompression sickness (or the “bends”) in marine mammals by inducing growth of gas bubbles in their blood stream or tissues, potentially leading to fatal hemorrhaging, lesions and emboli in the organs. However, the Navy disputes the conclusions of these studies and it has submitted a decla10 According to the study, the “key area” in southern California comprises the California shelf margins, which the study defines as the area west of the Californian coast up until the 125.0 degree longitude. Navy maps in the record show that the Southern California Operating Area falls largely within this area. 2094 NRDC v. WINTER ration by an expert on marine mammal auditory systems stating that decompression sickness requires super-saturation of tissue with gas and that such super-saturation has not been shown to occur in marine mammals. See Declaration of Dr. Darlene R. Ketten (“Ketten decl.”) ¶¶ 12-16. The Navy also acknowledges that the use of MFA sonar may overtly disrupt the normal behavior of marine mammals even if it does not affect their physiology. While the Navy acknowledges that active sonar may cause behavioral responses such as attempting to avoid the site of sound exposure, swimming erratically, sluggish behavior, tail slapping, “jaw popping,” and aggressive behavior, those responses were observed in studies using trained animals held in captivity.11 NOAA concluded in 2006 that studies of marine mammals in the wild “strongly suggest” that the use of sonar at levels lower than those found to produce behavioral effects in the tests of captive animals can result in “profound” behavioral alterations, including changes in feeding, diving, and social behavior. In a February 9, 2007 Biological Opinion concerning the SOCAL exercises,12 the NMFS found that acoustic exposures can impair marine mammals’ foraging ability and their ability to detect predators or communicate. The NMFS cited studies finding that noise has caused whales to move away from their feeding and mating grounds and migration routes, and to change their calls. 11 These behavioral responses were observed in a study to which the EA cites for the effects of MFA sonar on marine mammals. See J.J. Finneran and C.E. Schlundt, Effects of Intense Pure Tones on the Behavior of Trained Odontocetes, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego, Technical Document (September 2004). 12 The NMFS issued the Biological Opinion pursuant to section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), 16 U.S.C. § 1536(a)(2), which concluded that while the SOCAL exercises might “adversely affect” certain threatened and endangered species, the exercises were not “likely to jeopardize the [species’] continued existence.” The NMFS also issued an Incidental Take Statement under which harm done to animals of the threatened or endangered species would be excused under the ESA as incidental. NRDC v. WINTER 2095 As the record demonstrates, substantial evidence suggests that beaked whales are particularly vulnerable to MFA sonar. While it is not settled what causes this vulnerability,13 it is clear that use of MFA sonar may lead to the stranding of beaked whales. A 2004 Navy-sponsored study concluded that “the evidence of sonar causation is . . . completely convincing and that therefore there is a serious issue of how best to avoid/ minimize future beaching events.” Likewise, the Standing Working Group on Environmental Concerns of the International Whaling Commission’s Scientific Committee concluded in 2004 that “[t]he weight of accumulated evidence now associates mid-frequency, military sonar with atypical beaked whale mass strandings,” and found that “[t]his evidence is very convincing and appears overwhelming.” A 2006 study cited as possible explanations for the association between MFA sonar and strandings of beaked whales that (1) beaked whales may swim into shallow waters to avoid the sonar sound and strand if they are unable to navigate back to deeper waters, and (2) that behavioral responses to sonar may lead to tissue damage that in turn leads to stranding. The study explains that while a stranding need not be fatal, stranded marine mammals have died from cardiovascular collapse due to hyperthermia or from the stress associated with the stranding. Several mass strandings of marine mammals—mostly, though not exclusively, beaked whales—have been associated with the use of active sonar. Another 2006 study describes a stranding of twelve beaked whales in Greece in 1996, a stranding of seventeen marine mammals (including fourteen beaked whales) in the Bahamas in 2000, and a stranding of 13 A 2004 Navy-sponsored study investigated several possible explanations for beaked whales’ vulnerability to MFA sonar, including that beaked whales have a specialized anatomy, possibly due to their deep diving, which renders them especially sensitive to sound, and that beaked whales are “especially skittish” such that loud, reverberant acoustic fields cause “uncontrolled attempts to escape.” The study concluded that the latter explanation was the most likely to be correct, but that this conclusion could change “as more research is done on this problem.” 2096 NRDC v. WINTER fourteen beaked whales in the Canary Islands in 2002,14 all of which occurred at the same time and place as the naval use of MFA sonar. The study also recounts a stranding of three beaked whales in the Madeira Islands in 2000, which coincided with NATO’s conduct of naval exercises,15 as well as a stranding of two beaked whales in the Gulf of California, Mexico, in 2002, which coincided with the conduct of seismic surveys involving, among other acoustic sources, a multibeam, high-frequency sonar. In addition, a 2006 report by the NMFS recounts that 150 to 200 melon-head whales stranded in a Hawaiian bay in 2004, at the same time and place as the Navy’s use of active sonar as part of its biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise.16 Necropsies of the dead whales involved in the Bahamas, Canary Islands and Madeira Islands strandings revealed hemorrhages in and around the ears, in the cranial spaces, and in other parts of the body such as the jaw fat, lungs and kidneys. In a joint report, the Navy and NOAA concluded that the injuries to the whales that stranded in the Bahamas constituted “some sort of acoustic or impulse trauma,” and that the Navy’s use of MFA sonar was the “most plausible” source of that trauma. The International Whaling Commission agreed 14 Notably, the study states that after the stranding in the Canary Islands, local researchers examined past stranding records and found reports of eight other strandings of beaked whales in the Canaries since 1985, at least five of which coincided with naval activities offshore. 15 According to the study, NATO has been unwilling to provide information on its sonar activity during the Madeira Island exercises. 16 The RIMPAC exercises have been conducted biennially since 1968 in the “Hawaiian operating area” and are intended to enhance the communication and coordination between Pacific Rim armed forces “as a means of promoting stability in the region to the benefit of all participating nations.” Bird decl. ¶ 34. Unlike the JTFEX and COMPTUEX exercises, the RIMPAC exercises are not part of the “integrated” phase of the Fleet Response Training Plan; they are focused on command and control among the nations involved, and not focused on certifying strike groups for deployment. Id. However, like the JTFEX and COMPTUEX exercises, the RIMPAC exercises include ASW training that involves the use of MFA sonar. NRDC v. WINTER 2097 that the hemorrhages in the inner ears and cranial spaces were consistent with “direct acoustic effects.” According to a biologist on whose declaration NRDC relies, the use of MFA sonar in the Bahamas may also have had a serious effect on the local population of beaked whales. See Declaration of Dr. Hal Whitehead. The biologist cites a study showing that no Cuvier’s beaked whales were sighted for twenty months following the stranding in the Bahamas, despite an increased survey effort. Id. ¶ 8. He also cited studies showing that of the Cuvier’s beaked whales that had been photo-identified over a nine-year period, only a few have been sighted since the stranding in 2000. Id. With respect to the stranding of the melon-head whales in Hawaii, the NMFS issued a report concluding that “[w]hile causation of this stranding event may never be unequivocally determined, we consider the active sonar transmissions . . . a plausible, if not likely, contributing factor in what may have been a confluence of events.” Undoubtedly, many training exercises involving the use of active sonar occur around the world without marine mammal strandings being observed or reported. However, a declaration by a NOAA scientist submitted by the Navy acknowledges that it is generally poorly understood in which combinations of physical and biological circumstances such strandings are likely to occur. Declaration of Brandon L. Southall ¶ 19. The declaration also acknowledges that whether marine mammal strandings are observed depends on the extent to which people are looking for them. Id.