Letter: Columnist exaggerated dangers of sonar testing

Tue, May 13 2008

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To the editor:

Recently you published an opinion piece by Brian Watson ("Sonar endangering marine mammals," Viewpoint, Thursday, March 20).

Mr. Watson writes, "And, staggeringly, along the Gulf and east coasts alone, the Navy estimates that almost 3 million animals annually receive sonar exposure that induces harmful behavioral changes."

Not true. Most of those are simply behavioral changes without harm.

He also writes, "Because so many ships simultaneously emit sonar, they create great, overlapping, 200-mile circles of sound — like a giant, oceanic Venn diagram."

This is a mischaracterization of how sonar training is conducted by the world's navies and the significant geographic spacing across oceans (thousands of miles). The sound from these sonars does not travel the distances necessary to overlap each other, so there is no possible way overlapping can occur.

JIM BRANTLEY, environmental media relations officer

U.S. Fleet Forces Command

Norfolk, Va.