The Rules of Engagement

Sure, people love Southern California’s palm trees, abundant sunshine, and perfect waves. But plenty of locals and visitors feel as much passion for the rare and magnificent marine mammals that swim near Catalina and the other Channel Islands. Unfortunately, the Navy continues to conduct training exercises using mid-frequency sonar in the very same waters, endangering already fragile populations. Joel Reynolds, a senior attorney at NRDC and head of the organization’s marine mammal program, has for many years led a coalition of conservation groups in a series of lawsuits filed against the Navy for its use of sonar in the vicinity of whales, dolphins, and other ocean mammals. In January a federal court in Los Angeles issued an injunction requiring the Navy, when training with this sort of sonar along the Southern California coast, to adopt a series of commonsense practices that will protect ocean mammals. Among the new rules: monitoring regulations calling for aerial surveillance by helicopter before and during training exercises, and a requirement that sonar be shut off when mammals are within 2,200 yards of a vessel. Of special importance is the creation of a 12-nautical-mile no-sonar zone along the coast to ensure that deep-diving whales and other mammals will be protected even when they can’t be seen from the surface. Despite the Navy’s repeated challenges to the ruling--and some legally questionable interference by the White House--the rules were recently upheld in federal court.