The National Marine Fisheries Service used inadequate science when it approved U.S. Navy training exercises that pose a danger to marine mammals off the coast of Washington, Oregon and California, a federal judge has ruled.
In a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Nandor J. Vadas of the District of Northern California said the federal wildlife agency "abused its discretion" and failed to use the best scientific data available last year when it authorized the Navy's use of sonar. The underwater pings can disturb, injure or deafen whales, dolphins and other marine mammals.
By ignoring the latest science, Vadas found, the agency probably underestimated the level of harm posed to federally protected and endangered whales, dolphins, porpoises, killer whales, seals and sea lions by the Navy's anti-submarine warfare training in the Northwest Training Range Complex, an offshore expanse that stretches from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Mendocino County.
Environmental groups and Indian tribes sued the National Marine Fisheries Service last year, alleging that it failed to protect thousands of marine mammals from Navy vessels. The Navy has for decades used destroyers and frigates equipped with mid-frequency active sonar devices to conduct offshore training exercises.
The 2012 permit the agency granted to the Navy under the Marine Mammal Protection Act estimated that the exercises would result in 130,000 instances of injury and harassment each year to whales, dolphins, porpoises and other animals. In the same year, the agency reaffirmed a 2010 biological opinion that found the Navy's use of sonar through 2015 would not jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered or threatened species.
But the agency, Vadas wrote, should have considered scientific studies from 2010 and 2011 that found bottlenose dolphins are more sensitive to sonar and to noise-induced hearing loss than previously thought.
"With these studies, we now know that harm to marine mammals that was once thought to be purely behavioral, like abandonment of habitat or foraging, is actually resulting in temporary or permanent hearing loss," said Zak Smith, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the groups that filed suit.
The judge also found that the agency was wrong to limit its analysis of the effects of military exercises on marine life to the five years when the Navy plans to continue those operations indefinitely.
The National Marine Fisheries Service said it was reviewing the ruling.
The Navy, which was not a party to the lawsuit, said it too was studying the ruling. "The Navy is committed to complying with environmental laws and protecting the environment," it said in a statement.
Environmental groups said the decision should require the National Marine Fisheries Service to reassess the Navy's permits. They have urged the agency to require the Navy to do more to protect marine life during its training exercises by restricting sonar use during whale migration periods and in marine sanctuaries.
tony.barboza@latimes.com
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