‘Marine mammal issues’ complicated exercise off Hawaii, fleet says

The Navy yesterday raised concerns about new sonar restrictions as it finished three days of anti-submarine warfare training off Hawai’i — the first such training under a recent federal court order on sonar use that is meant to better protect whales and dolphins.

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group, which conducted the training before its expected deployment to the Persian Gulf region, also included a cruiser, three destroyers and two submarines, the Navy said.

“(The court order) adds up to a very complicated situation that forces the sailors aboard those ships to devote more time and attention to marine mammal issues than to the anti-submarine warfare training that’s the point of the exercise,” said Capt. W. Scott Gureck, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Marine mammals were spotted during the exercise, Gureck said, but no incidents involving those animals were reported. Gureck said it will be several weeks before final reports are completed.

Paul Achitoff, an Earthjustice attorney representing several groups that sued the Navy over sonar use in Hawai’i waters, said the Navy’s claim that it had to devote more time to whale watching than sonar training is “nonsensical.”

“There are a bunch of vessels in each exercise, so you’ve probably got 1,000 personnel out there on the water, and probably only about six of them have to even think about marine mammals, or maybe 10, or whatever, and the rest of them are doing completely other things,” Achitoff said. “So the (Navy) statement is absurd on its face.”

Read More …

(Source: William Cole, Honolulu Advertiser)