- The message below, an open letter from James Taylor,
Pierce Brosnan and Jean-Michel Cousteau, was sent to you by Doug France
from the Natural Resources Defense Council's website (http://www.nrdc.org)
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- Dear Friend,
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- The three of us have never teamed up like this before.
But we all share something in common: a deep love of the ocean and marine
mammals. That's why we're very disturbed by a U.S. military program that,
if approved, will soon be bombarding millions of whales and dolphins around
the world with intense noise.
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- You may have read about the U.S. Navy's "Low-Frequency
Active" (LFA) sonar program. The military has been testing this new,
high-powered system in secret for years. Now, the Navy wants to deploy
it across 80 percent of our planet's oceans. LFA sonar is designed to detect
enemy submarines by flooding vast expanses of the oceans with sound. Leaving
aside the military wisdom of this sonar -- which is still in dispute --
the environmental dangers are becoming increasingly clear.
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- Here's the problem: LFA noise is billions of times more
intense than that known to disturb whale migration and communication. Whales
and dolphins depend on their sensitive hearing for survival. To put it
simply, a deaf whale is a dead whale. Deafening noise from the LFA system
will interfere with the vital biological activities of marine mammals.
Scientists fear that long-term exposure to LFA could push entire populations
over the brink into extinction.
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- Inevitably, there will also be marine mammals unlucky
enough to swim too close to LFA loudspeakers. Imagine an acoustic wave
so powerful that, even at substantial distances, it can destroy your hearing,
cause your lungs or ears to hemorrhage, or even kill you.
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- We've already seen a glimpse of the resulting carnage.
Last year, whales from four different species stranded themselves and died
on beaches across the northern Bahamas during a Navy military exercise.
All but one of the dead animals examined by researchers had suffered hemorrhaging
around the inner ear -- the telltale sign of acoustic trauma. The U.S.
Navy's own report concluded that it is "highly likely" that the
stranding was caused by the use of mid-frequency active sonar. But despite
this tragic event, the Navy now wants to deploy LFA, the most extensive
active sonar system ever devised.
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- We know that different frequencies will affect different
marine mammals and that the lower the frequency, the farther it penetrates
the ocean. We believe it is unconscionable to expose marine mammals around
the world to more high intensity sonar. If you agree, then please join
us in taking immediate action; it will take you only a few seconds.
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- Just go to http://www.nrdcaction.org/index.asp?step=2&item=515.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Ocean Futures Society
(OFS) have set up this web page to make it easy for you to send electronic
messages of protest to your U.S. senators and representative. Congress
is now deciding the Navy's funding for next year -- tell them to "Turn
Off LFA Sonar" by cutting off its funding.
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- And please forward this message to your family, friends
and colleagues. NRDC used web activism to help generate a million messages
of protest to Mitsubishi and, just last year, stopped the company from
destroying the last unspoiled birthing ground of the Pacific gray whale.
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- Congress cannot ignore millions of us. Together, we can
keep whales and dolphins safe from high-powered sonar.
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- Thank you for your time and your concern.
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- Sincerely yours,
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- James Taylor
- Pierce Brosnan
- Jean-Michel Cousteau
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