Public meetings about approved Navy 5-year war testing off California coast
Today, Rosalind Peterson reached out to encourage Californians' participation at two December meetings in which the U.S. Navy and NOAA will address its 5-year Warfare Testing program that includes killing millions of sea animals off the California and Hawaiian coasts. High-tech weapons applied to animals will then be used on humans.
NOAA issued the permit and Letter of Authorization to the Navy, finalized November 12, 2010, part of which is below. It protects no National Marine Sanctuaries, Marine Reserves, Biologically Sensitive Areas and does not stop the Navy from testing new weapons systems (including sonar), during gray whale migrations or salmon migrations.
U.S. Congressman Thompson's request for the U.S. Navy and NOAA to meet with the public in Mendocino and Humboldt Counties in December 2010 has been accepted.
Peterson writes: "This is to notify everyone that NOAA and the U.S. Navy will be meeting with the public on the issue of the U.S. Navy Warfare Testing activities planned for the NWTRC. U.S. Congressman Thompson has organized these public meetings for residents of both Humboldt & Mendocino Counties. Representatives from Marin County are invited to attend these public events."
"In the future, these plans can be altered on any date by the U.S. Navy or NOAA placing the information in the U.S. Federal Register. And the Navy does not need to notify anyone, including fishermen or ocean tourists, that these events are underway."
Furthermore, Peterson highlights, "the NOAA permit requires only Navy reports on its impacts in the NWTRC and relies, according to U.S. Congressman Thompson, upon mitigation measures effective only 9% of the time."
NOAA held no workshops to determine biologically sensitive areas in the NWTRC during 2010 according to Peterson and the NAVY/NOAA has plans for 2011 sponsored workshops, to be completed by November 2011.
Peterson wants these workshops 1) to be held in Humboldt County, California so her associated marine biologists and scientists can participate and 2) that they be held in January or February 2011, instead of waiting until the end of the 2011, before completion.
No National Marine Sanctuaries, marine reserves or biologically sensitive areas are protected in the ongoing 5-Year Warfare testing now underway in Southern California or Hawaiian Islands according to Peterson.
Below is the letter of authorization for the 2010-2011 war-testing.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE
Letter of Authorization
The Commander, u.S. Pacific Fleet, 250 Makalapa Drive, Pearl Harbor, HI 96860-7000, and persons operating under his authority (i.e., Navy), are authorized to take marine mammals incidental to Navy exercises conducted in the Northwest Training Range Complex in
accordance with 50 CFR Part 218, Subpart M--Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to U.S. Navy Training in the Northwest Training Range Complex (NWTRC) subject to the provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.; MMPA) and the following conditions:
1. This Authorization is valid for the period November 12, 2010, through November 11, 2011.
2. This Authorization is valid only for the unintentional taking of the species of marine mammals and methods of take identified in 50 CFR § 218.112(c) and Condition (5) of this Authorization incidental to the activities specified in 50 CFR § 218.110(c) and Condition (4)(a)
of this Authorization and occurring within the NWTRC, (as depicted in Figure ES-l in the Navy's Final Environmental Impact Statement for the NWTRC), which is bounded by 48°30' N. lat.; 130°00' W. long.; 40°00' N. lat.; and on the east by 124°00' W. long or by the shoreline where the shoreline extends west of 124°00' W. long (excluding the Strait of Juan de Fuca (east of 124°40' W. long), which is not included in the Offshore area).
3. This Authorization is valid only if the Holder of the Authorization or any person(s) operating under his authority implements the mitigation, monitoring, and reporting required pursuant to 50 CFR §§ 218.114 & 218.115 and implements the Terms and Conditions of this
Authorization.
4. (a) This Authorization is valid for the activities identified below within the estimated amounts:
(1) The use of the following nlid-frequency active sonar (MF AS) and high frequency active sonar (HF AS) sources for u .S. Navy anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training:
(i) AN/SQS-53 (hull-mounted sonar) - 43 hours
(ii) AN/SQS-56 (hull-mounted sonar) - 65 hours
(iii) ANIBQS-15 (submarine navigational sonar) - 42 hours
(iv) SSQ-62 (sonobuoys) - 886 sonobuoys
(v) SSQ-125 (AEER sonobuoy) - 149 sonobuoys (total combined with EERlIEER)
(vi) MK-48 (heavyweight torpedoes) - 2 torpedo events
(vii) Range Pingers - 180 hours
(viii) PUTR Uplink - 150 hours
(2) The detonation of the underwater explosives indicated in (i) conducted as part of the training exercises indicated in (ii):
(i) Underwater Explosives (Net Explosive Weight):
(A) 5" Naval Gunfire (9.5 lbs)
(B) 76 mm rounds (l.6Ibs)
(C) Maverick (78.5 lbs)
(D) Harpoon (448 lbs)
(E) MK -82 (238 lbs)
(F)) MK-48 (851 lbs)
(G) Demolition Charges (2.5 lbs.)
(H) AN/SSQ-ll OA (EERlIEER explosive sonobuoy - 5 lbs)
(I) HARM;
(1) Hellfire;
(K) SLAM; and
(L) GBU 10,12, and 16.
(ii) Training Events:
(A) Surface-to-surface Gunnery Exercises - 340 exercises
(B) Bombing Exercises - 30 exercises
(C) Sinking Exercises - 2 exercises
(D) Extended Echo Ranging and Improved Extended Echo Ranging
Systems (EERlIEER) - 149 lEER sonobuoy deployments (total combined with EERlIEER).
(b) This authorization is also valid for the activities and sources listed in 4(a) should the amounts (i.e., hours, dips, number of exercises) vary from those estimated in 4( a), provided that the variation does not result in exceeding the amount of take indicated in 5 (a), below.
5. (a) The incidental take of marine mammals under the activities identified in 4, above, and § 218.l10(c) is limited to the species listed in 5(b) and 5(c) below, by the indicated method of take and the indicated number of times (estimated based on the authorized amounts of sound source operation), but with the following allowances for annual variation in activities:
(1) 2010 annual take (a post-calculation/estimation of which must be provided in the 2011 LOA application) of any species of marine mammal may not exceed the anlount identified in 5 (b) and 5( c), below, for that species by more than 25%
(2) 2010 annual take total of all marine mammal species combined may not exceed the estimated total, indicated in 5(b) and 5( c), by more than 100/0
(3) the total take of any species over the course of five years may not exceed the amounts indicated in 50 CFR 218.112(c)(I), which is 10% above the numbers indicated
2
in 5(b) and 5( c) below multiplied by 5 for each year of the rule. A running calculation/estimation of takes of each species over the course of the years covered by the rule must be maintained.
(b) Level B Harassment:
(1) Mysticetes:
(i) Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) - 15
(ii) Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) - 40
(iii) Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) - 11
(iv) Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) - 9
(v) Gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) - 4
(vi) Sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) - 1.
(2) Odontocetes:
(i) Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) - 84
(ii) Killer whale (Orcinus orca) - 14;
(iii) Pygmy or dwarf sperm whales (Kogia breviceps or Kogia sima) - 4
(iv) Mesoplodont beaked whales - 15
(v) Cuvier's beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) - 14
(vi) Baird's beaked whales (Berardius bairdii) - 13
(vii) Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) - 40
(viii) Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) - 100
(ix) Northern right whale dolphin (Lissodelphis borealis) -741
(x) Pacific white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) - 571
(xi) Short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) - 1256
(xii) Short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorvnchus) - 2
(xiv) Dall's porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli) - 4752
(xv) Harbor Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) - 119274.
(3) Pinnipeds:
(i) Pacific harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) - 586
(ii) California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) - 286
(iii) Northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) - 1365
(iv) ) Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) - 91
(c) Level A Harassment:
(1) Fin whale - 1;
(2) Sperm whale - 1;
(3) Dall' s Porpoise - 3;
(4) Harbor Porpoise - 1
(5) Northern right whale dolphin - 1;
3
(6) Short-beaked common dolphin
Peterson advises hat the new 5-Year warfare testing range initiated in the U.S. Federal Register on July 15, 2010 that connects the area between the Hawaiian and Southern California Warfare Testing ranges," ever-increasing impacts will be felt with regard to breeding habitats, which are not now protected in the NWTRC, marine food supply areas, and migration routes will be even more heavily impacted by this new range.
"Also added in 2010 is the 5-Year Warfare Testing program in the Marianas Islands."
Learn more: See Rosalind Peterson's website: http://www.agriculturedefensecoalition.org/?q=us-navy
Any questions need to be lodged at U.S. Congressman Mike Thompson's Office in Washington, DC: 866. 220-0044
Contact Rosalind Peterson at Post Office Box 499, Redwood Valley, CA 95470, Phone: 707.485.7520. E-Mail: info@californiaskywatch.com
Also see:
Link to U.S. Navy Final Environmental Impact Statement & Rule of Decision (ROD):
http://www.nwtrangecomplexeis.com/Documents.aspx
Links to NOAA Permit for the "taking" of marine mammals in the NWTRC & their Letter of Authorization:
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-27540.htm - November 10, 2010 NOAA Permit
Links to all NOAA documentation on NWTRC and other Warfare Testing Ranges in the Pacific, Atlantic, and the Gulf of Mexico - Current Status: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/incidental.htm
Final Rule: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/fr/fr75-69296.pdf NWTRC
Final Monitoring Plan: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/permits/nwtrc_monitoring_plan_final.pdf
New Information from NOAA - U.S. Federal Register: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-28282.htm
Marine Mammals Status Change Requested
Further information about the two upcoming important meetings can be found at:
1) http://mikethompson.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=216749
U.S. Navy Public Meeting Schedule - NWTRC Mendocino & Humboldt Counties, CA
2) http://mikethompson.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=216750
Dr. Jane Lubchenco - NOAA Meeting in Mendocino County on December 9, 2010 - NWTRC















Comments
Heaven knows, we wouldn't want any of those pesky Jap's swimming ashore like they did at Pearl Harbor!
You know the first 'job' Bush Jr. did was to shut down the wasteful Federal Department of Peace, with their whopping budget of $40+ Million a year, worldwide.
Instead, he should have shut down the entire industrial military complex and supported a plan to rebuild our actual nation.
But, hey, who needs logic when you can accelerate the demise of the entire planet?
Somebody please get this information to CAPTAIN PAUL WATSON of THE SEA SHEPHERD SOCIETY (www.seashepherd.org). Instead of fighting the Japanese whalers, he should be telling the world who are the real enemies of sea mammals. It's time.
Great work again by Deborah Dupré. This information will not be exposed to the "general" public by the MSM, just like the ongoing poisoning of the people around the Gulf from BP. People have to start sending this article to whoever they know and realize that the sea life in the Gulf is already dead or dying and now they want to destroy the life over in another part of our oceans. Agenda 21 is going full speed and it is sickening to watch people care more about Lady Goo Goo or Lohan and what they are doing.
The Elites now have our Air, Food, Herbs and now our Fresh Water, why can't people see this?
Make this article viral any way you can, and thanks Deborah for your great work.
What do you mean Agenda 21 is going full speed?
dont you see/??? Killing everything is the objective.
You people are so gulible. You listen to one whack-job and you just assume the Military is Killing helpless sea creatures. Do some "real" research and quit spending so much time on the internet. Go to these meetings with an open mind and see how this Congressman is just playing you, pretending he cares, just to get your votes at great cost to the Government. Learn what the "Real" deffinition of "take" means in this process. After Nam, you called me "baby Killer" now you call me "Mammal Killer". That's OK cuz I need to forgive ignorance. Quit being Lemmings and talk to a War Fighter. You may get the real story. You may find out that they fight war because they "love" their country. That includes Marine Mammals and lemmings like All Y'all.
"War Fighter" what a joke! "Love your country" another joke!!
You have no idea what you are talking about because you have been "conditioned" and cannot grasp what the reality is. What war are you fighting? Do you mean the mass murder of innocent people in Iraq?
Do you mean the "takeover" of Afghanistan and the opium? Or maybe you are referring to "the war on terror" which is another joke. There are no terrorists working in the US EXCEPT the terrorists that YOU work for, yes your country is being taken over systematically and you can't see it. The DHS was formed to take down the American people and YOU veterans are first in line with the gun owners, and your benefits are going to be gone also. So who is the Lemming here?
People like YOU have to do "REAL" research as to what is really going on to your country and stand up for what you are supposed to stand up for, and stop destroying other countries for no real reason.
What have you accomplished in regards to terrorist attacks happening in your own country? Nothing! There is no "Al-CIA-da" and you should look at your own sections of Government who are behind these "false flag" attacks on your own people in order to justify putting your country into bankruptcy just to kill millions of innocent people and build more bases where you have no business building them. Start with the Gulf of Tonkin incident through to 9/11 and wake up. Your "wars" are all scripted and you don't need to be a NASA (nazi) rocket scientist to see it, I can tell you where your going to fight next, so for a Lemming I guess I do pretty well.
If you have family at home you should start worrying about their future and what you are doing to it, because they don't have much of one as it is now, just ask the people around the Gulf of Mexico, they can tell you. People don't call YOU a mammal killer, it is the Puppet masters that control your Government that are the real killers of all.
I hope you military people can one day see the reality and maybe then you can forget about killing the mammals and go get the real guilty people behind all of this, start with the Banksters and people who run your Government who hold a dual citizenship with that other country, then maybe you can take your country back.
You people are implementing their Agenda 21 and you don't even realize it.
I am sure it is ok if we forgive ignorance also.
Steve,
The rest of us think that you are the gullible one and really have no idea what us lemmings have in store for the culprits. Bring it on Baby killer.
Steve...how narrow minded can one get. EVERY war that has ever been fought was started because of a LIE and those who died did so for NOTHING! Love your country? This hasn't been our country since the 1870's...and after 1913...Israel has been calling all the shots! You need to WAKE UP!
Dear I.C.
I think that given a face to face chance, you & I might probably agree on quite a bit. While my sarcastic comments were directed to just this one issue concerning the NW Training Range Complex you seem to have multiple concerns. What Im bothered about is statements like this one in the very first paragraph of this report. where references are made concerning a "Warfare Testing program that includes killing millions of sea animals..... High-tech weapons applied to animals will then be used on humans." That is just outright FALSE data used to create mistrust & fear which leads to hate. Then people like yourself that have genuine concerns read this and take it for Gospel. If I feed a deer a hand full of grain, the word used for that deer's reaction is "TAKE". If I hit that deer while driving down the road.... that also is a "TAKE". Because NOAA has permitted the Navy a certain amount of "TAKES" that is not a hunting license. When you walk through the forest to commune with God's little ccreatures and a rabbit hops away over a fallen tree... You just logged in a "TAKE". What I'm trying to say is that people shouldn't just willy-nilly believe things like the mis-informaation that Ms. Dupre' is putting out. It creates bad blood and is very costly to the public. Earlier I said that you and I would probably agree on a lot of things. But let me ad: Except this... My love of the United States is not a joke. Do I believe that we are not tainted in any way? Nope. But my comments are solely meant to address the NWTRC and the mis-information being put out by people on the internet. Merry Christmas and I don't mind taking back that I called you a lemming.
Merry Christmas back and no offense taken, as I am used to it. I still cannot figure out why we need to test new weapons when we have enough to destroy every living thing on this planet and many others for that matter.
The US is finished as the country it once was and will never come back, and unless the banksters running your Government are stopped soon it will be far worse than Germany was with Hitler.
This bad blood you are talking about from people reading this article is just what we need to get some of your military to wake up and spread the truth and bring a stop to the real Enemy, after all like I said before DHS was created for you and your other veterans and they are coming for the veterans and gun owners first.
I don't think anyone cares about "new weapons" if they are going to kill even 1 mammal in the ocean, why not just leave them alone and find out why the weapons are even necessary.
Stop watching all TV, get off Fluoride and Aspartame, spend the new found time researching and when you are awake, it is a different world, a better world. If you say you love the USA you wouldn't let the Elites do what they are doing to the USA, and when you find out all they are doing you are going to get very, very angry, and that is a good thing.
As the idiot Bush said..your either with us or with them. With them you will have no future, I don't expect you to believe it, I just hope you don't believe it and that will get you researching about it.
At least you said "Merry Christmas" which we are not allowed to say anymore...and that's sad. Peace from the North.
Deborah, feel free to reach out to the Navy for accurate information regarding our training and testing. The Navy does not intend to "kill millions of sea animals". Nor are marine mammals the target of any Navy weapons testing. Actually, very little sonar training occurs off the coast of Northern California. The Navy does have to train with sonar, because it's the only effective means available today to detect submarines that could threaten global peace and commerce. The Navy has worked with regulators (NOAA/NMFS) to minimize potential effects of sonar training on marine life by implementing protective measures. For example, Navy sailors look for marine mammals before and during an exercise, and are required to reduce sonar levels or cease sonar use altogether if whales or dolphins are detected within certain distances. For more, see http://greenfleet.dodlive.mil/environment/ Peace and aloha,
Mark Matsunaga, Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet environmental public affairs officer
This is just a cover for the animals already killed by oil, dispersent etc.
What I find interesting and very scary is while the military was playing their war games to PREPARE for what they would do IF planes hit the Twin Towers...look what happened!! Anybody else find these games ominus? Or even needed? And who is going to pay for it? This country is already bankrupt! Thank You Israel!! You have succeeded!!
Fuck the US military, Fuck US CIA, DIA, NSA, US Fatherland Security, and Fuck the entire Fascist US Military Industrial Complex and Wallstreet.
I better stop betore I say what I really think.
The U.S. military ARE the terrorists !
Thank You Deborah for your tenacity in revealing the horrible things being done by our government. People are beginning to see the problems, but the question is will it be soon enough? Recently former NJ Judge Napolitano talked with Geraldo Rivera about 9/11 and a TV Ad that was running in NYC titled, Building What? see it on Freedom Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uQSX2VMcT0
Mark Matsunaga wrote:
"Deborah, feel free to reach out to the Navy for accurate information regarding our training and testing. The Navy does not intend to kill millions of sea animals" "
However,in a letter to the Navy, the Natural Resources Defense Council said the plan "would pose significant risk to whales, fish and other wildlife."; and the Council said the plan would release a variety of hazardous materials into coastal waters, including "thousands of rounds of spent ammunition and unexploded ordinance containing chromium, chromium compounds, depleted uranium compounds, depleted uranium" and more.
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/12/25/1785654/whale-advocates-fear-...
According to Rosalind Peterson, "The Navy admits that their sonar tests & explosions may harm as many as 2.5 million sea creatures per year over the next 5 years.
http://ukiahcommunityblog.wordpress.com/category/rosalind-peterson-/
So much for "reaching out to the Navy for accurate information".
.
It's all part of the big plan to kill all life on the world that does not depend on the New World Order for survival.
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!