Navy seeks sonar use off Calif. coast

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy is defending its animal rights record as it fights for the right to use submarine-hunting sonar in training missions off the California coast.

"Right now, the Navy employs 29 mitigation measures to assure that we don't hurt marine mammals when we're out doing our sonar exercises," Navy Rear Adm. Lawrence S. Rice, director of Naval Operations Environmental Readiness, said this week in a conference call with online journalists.

Navy officials said the 29 measures were put into place in January, the American Forces Press Service reported.

While there's legitimate concern over sonar causing marine mammals to beach, the ability to detect enemy submarines is essential to national security, Rice said. The Navy has spent between tens of millions of dollars over the last few years researching how sonar affects marine animals, he said.

A panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last month restored parts of a lower court's ban on the submarine-hunting sonar until the Navy can formulate ways to ensure marine mammals aren't harassed or injured by sonic blasts during training missions scheduled for January.