DATELINE: 23rd August 2001

CETACEAN EXTINCTION WARNING
American conservationists are concerned about a new military underwater surveillance system which, they say, could harm marine mammals on such a wide scale that population extinctions might not be out of the question.
The US Navy's Low-Frequency Active (LFA) programme has developed a new, ultra-powerful sonar location system designed to locate enemy submarines across broad expanses ocean.
The system, say the conservationists, is billions of times more intense than current systems already known to affect whale movements and communications.
Their worry is that the new system could damage hearing or cause total deafness among so many whales and dolphins that entire populations could be threatened with extinction.
"Whales and dolphins depend on their sensitive hearing for survival," says Jean -Michel Cousteau of Ocean Futures Society. "To put it simply, a deaf whale is a dead whale."
Ocean Futures Society has joined with America's National Resource Defense Council in a campaign highlighting the risks. It is lobbying US senators, state representatives and others to prevent the military from bringing LFA technology into active service.
Encouraging the public to join the campaign, Cousteau says: "Congress cannot ignore millions of us. Together, we can keep whales and dolphins safe from dangerous sound emissions."
Details: www.nrdcaction.org/index.asp?step=2&item=518

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