Underwater sonar use and detonations, and their potential harm to marine mammals top the list of concerns Hawaii and California residents have about a Navy training plan for the Pacific Ocean between the two states.
The Navy recently released a draft environmental impact statement and overseas environmental impact statement for the Hawaii-Southern California Training and Testing Study Area, which consists of the sea- and airspace within several ranges between the International Dateline and Southern California.
Hawaii Island residents may offer their input on the plan during a meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday at the East Hawaii Cultural Center in Hilo.
Almost 20 percent of the 228 comments submitted during early scoping meetings addressed sonar and underwater detonations. About another 19 percent addressed marine mammals, the document said.
The exact comments were not included in the document. Officials paraphrased the concerns.
“Many comments mentioned concerns about the effect of Navy sonar on marine life, such as marine mammals, fish, sea turtles, and sea invertebrates,” the document said. “Participants frequently requested that the EIS/OEIS consider alternative technologies to midfrequency active sonar.”
The at-sea portion of the Hawaii Range Complex encompasses ocean areas around the major Hawaiian Islands, with offshore areas forming an area approximately 1,700-by-1,600 nautical miles, the document said. This is the only range complex in the mid-Pacific Region and it is used for training and assessment of operational forces, missile testing, testing of military systems and equipment, and other military activities, the document said.
Among other tasks, the Navy’s EIS is reassessing the environmental analyses of its at-sea training and testing activities, with a goal of reauthorizing incidental takes of marine mammals under the Marine Mammal Protection Agency Act and of threatened and endangered marine species under the Endangered Species Act. The document will allow the Navy to adjust its baseline for training and testing activities.
Navy officials estimated changes to the force’s structures would be in place by 2019.
“Marine mammals and sea turtles are the primary resources of concern for cumulative impacts analysis,” the document said. “Explosive detonations and vessel strikes under the (three alternatives) have the potential to disturb, injure or kill marine mammals and sea turtles.”
But the Navy’s impact isn’t likely to be that big, officials claimed.
“Compared to potential mortality, strandings or injury resulting from Navy training and testing activities, marine mammal and sea turtle mortality and injury from bycatch, commercial vessel ship strikes, entanglement, ocean pollution and other human causes are estimated to be orders of magnitude greater (hundreds of thousands of animals versus tens of animals),” the document said.
The training could also have “negligible” impacts on sediments and water quality, air quality, marine habitats, marine vegetation, marine invertebrates and fish, as well as make an incremental contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, representing approximately 0.03 percent of U.S. 2009 greenhouse gas emissions, respectively,” the document said.
