This is post has some information you need to know about sonar in order to be informed but the requested action is very easy. Just send an email to
PR1.062306A@noaa.gov saying that you oppose the use sonar throughout the world's oceans and the refusal of proposed rule number
062206A . A few talking points are listed below. PIck one. Make sure you include the proposed rule ID number: I put it in the subject line as well.
FROM: Russell Wray of Citizens Opposing
Active Sonar Threats (COAST)
MESSAGE: LFA Sonar Action Alert!
LFA Sonar may soon be deployed worldwide! Public outcry is needed now, as the only way to stop it may again be through a lawsuit....and the courts need to see the public concern and outrage at this madness. On Monday, July 9th, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) released their Proposed Rule allowing for Navy use, over the next five years, of its Low Frequency Active (LFA) Sonar throughout most of the planetís oceans. This will bring harm, on a massive scale, to the life within these oceans, as the LFA sound can travel at levels that are harmful to the marine environment for thousands
of miles.
Currently, due to a court injunction, the Navy has been restricted since 2003 in its use of LFA Sonar to an area in the northwest Pacific. That injunction will expire with this proposed Rule, along with a number
of mitigation measures required of the Navy. It will also allow for a doubling of the number of ships blasting this sonar. This Proposed Rule is the final step in the process before worldwide LFA Sonar deployment.
Public Outcry is needed now!
Outrageously, NMFS is allowing the public only 15 days to comment on the Proposed Rule. In its attempt to justify this unreasonably short comment period which is almost without precedent, it cites “national security” reasons. There are efforts being made to have the comment period extended, but it is may well not be allowed. The deadline for public comment is July 24, 2007.
Please write or e-mail NMFS to oppose the Proposed Rule. Your comments need not be long or technical...Just a brief message saying NO! To the deaths, injuries, and disruption that
LFA Sonar will bring to countless ocean inhabitants, including endangered species.
Tell NMFS to do its job and deny the permit!
The NMFS Proposed Rule for LFA Sonar can be found here: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/permits/lfa_proposedrule0707.pdf
Please include the Proposed Rule ID Number 062206A with your comments.
The e-mail address for comments is:
PR1.062306A@noaa.gov
A Few Points to Keep in Mind:
Because low frequency sound
can travel thousands of miles underwater, the incredibly loud LFA Sonar
noise will disrupt, injure, and kill marine mammals and other marine
life over vast ocean areas.
The Navy ís Environmental
Impact Statements for LFA Sonar repeatedly make assumptions and come
to conclusions which are not supported by scientific fact. They have
also ignored , or refused to adequately address information which contradict
their claims about LFA Sonar.
It is well documented that mid-frequency sonars have been responsible for or implicated in numerous
mass-strandings and deaths of marine mammals globally. Deployment of LFA Sonar will likely bring similar results, but on a larger scale.
There is growing evidence that naval sonars and other sources of intense underwater noise are
harming fish, and therefore threaten fisheries.
The Navy’s mitigation methods are entirely insufficient for protecting marine life.
A growing number of governmental and scientific bodies have expressed concern over the environmental impacts of naval active sonars and other sources of intense underwater
noise. Some of these are the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission, the United Nations Law of the Sea deliberations, the European Union Parliament, and the IUCN-World Conservation Union.
By deploying LFA Sonar, the Navy will further damage our planet’s already damaged oceans. This
does not benefit our nation, nor any other nation’s national security.
NMFS is the federal agency responsible for protecting marine species. Their policy decisions are
supposed to be science based. They should do their job and deny the permit!
Thank You for Writing!
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