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A coalition of conservation and Native American organizations
is suing the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in U.S. District Court for allegedly failing to protect marine mammals
from noise caused by sonar employed in Navy warfare training exercises in the Northwest Training Range Complex.
"The Navy’s Northwest Training Range is the size of the state of California, yet not one square inch is off-limits
to the most harmful aspects of naval testing and training activities," said Zak Smith, staff attorney for the Natural
Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which filed suit with Earthjustice, representing the Inter-Tribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council,
Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, Friends of the San Juans, and People For Puget Sound.
"We are asking for common-sense measures to protect the critical wildlife that lives within the training range from exposure
to life-threatening effects of sonar. Biologically rich areas like the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary should be protected." Native peoples have gathered, harvested, and fished for traditional, subsistence marine resources
in the area for centuries, according to the plaintiffs. "Our traditional cultural lifeways, and our relatives, such as
the whales and many other species, will be negatively and permanently impacted by the Navy’s activities," said
Priscilla Hunter, chairwoman and co-founder of the Inter-Tribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council.
"Both NMFS and the Navy have failed in their obligations to conduct government-to-government consultation with the Sinkyone
Council and its member tribes regarding project impacts." Steve Mashuda, an Earthjustice attorney representing the groups,
predicted that "These training exercises will harm dozens of protected species of marine mammals…through the use
of high-intensity mid-frequency sonar." Copyright
2012 Great Circle Communications LLC. No unauthorized posting, forwarding, or any other form of transmission of this material,
by any means, in whole or in part, is allowed.
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