Help stop a Navy training plan that could kill 1,000 whales
Pierc Brosman - NRDC (National Resources Defense Council)
The threat couldn’t be more dire.
The Navy has announced new plans for training and testing with high-intensity sonar and explosives.
Unless we stop them, more than 1,000 whales and other marine mammals -- including rare and endangered species -- could be killed over the next five years.
Fortunately, NRDC is mobilizing nationwide opposition to this reckless plan.
Please join me in sending a message to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel right away. Tell him to direct the Navy to put safeguards in place that will stop this deadly assault on whales.
The scope of the Navy’s plans is staggering. They threaten entire populations of marine wildlife off the East Coast, Southern California, Hawaii and the Gulf Coast.
The Navy’s mid-frequency sonar will bombard whales with noise so intense -- up to 236 decibels -- it can actually cause their internal organs to hemorrhage.
There will be more than 5,000 cases of serious injury -- such as permanent hearing loss or lung damage -- and tens of millions of incidents in which marine mammals are harassed and harmed.
And these alarming numbers come from the Navy itself!
So it’s all the more distressing that the Navy refuses to put common-sense measures in place that could protect whales during routine training -- especially because doing so would in no way compromise our military readiness.
Call on Secretary Hagel to chart a more responsible course by making the Navy take concrete steps to save whales from the deadly impacts of sonar and explosives.
The Navy should start by avoiding key habitats where whales are known to migrate and raise their young -- one of the most effective ways of reducing harm.
Time is of the essence. Once the Navy’s plan goes into effect, it will take a terrible toll on marine mammals for five long years.
Let’s not wait for thousands of whales to suffer and die before taking action. Please join me now in making your voice heard at the Pentagon in defense of whales. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Pierce Brosnan
Actor and NRDC Member
Natural Resources Defense Council
biogemsdefenders@savebiogems.org