Killer Whales Vs. The U.S. Navy

Marine mammals are getting their day in court. The supreme court is going to hear a case brought by environmentalists seeking to halt Navy sonar training in Southern California. Although lower courts have awarded the injunction against the exercises, the Navy has proceeded with 13 of the 14 missions anyway and appealed the case to the highest court.

"Your Honor, if it please the court, I'd like to request a salmon break."

It'll be interesting to see how this shakes out, and I'd love to hear from some west coast bloggers about the details. The case started when these SONAR missions caused observable behavior changes among killer whales and minke whales in the Puget Sound. Early studies have shown NAVY SONAR blasts at the same frequency as killer whale echolocation. In addition, WHOI is currently investigating the seemingly fatal effects of Navy SONAR testing in the Bahamas.

It looks like the argument will come down to the Navy's claim of national security interest versus the government's interest in protecting endangered species (the Puget Sound killer whale was placed on the Federal Endangered Species list in 2005). I'm no lawyer, but seeing as protecting endagered species is already a federal mandate, the burden will likely fall on the Navy to prove how essential these maneuvers are for protecting national interests.

In the meantime, I'd love some more info on how the Navy is recruiting killer whales into what appears to be a marine mammal cyborg workforce. We could definitely use some strict scrutiny on that. Here's a killer whale with a "recovery device":

"I've been sent from the future to kill John Connor"