{VOA NEWS ONLINE} – A U.S. federal appeals court has ruled that a lower court was wrong to allow the Navy to use sonar that could harm whales and other marine life in the world’s oceans.
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco Friday rejected the lower court’s 2012 decision that gave the Navy permission to use low-frequency sonar during peacetime maneuvers in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea.
Sonar is used to detect submarines, but can harm whales, seals, dolphins, walruses and other marine life, including disrupting their mating and feeding habits.
The rules of the 2012 decision were adopted by the National Marine Fisheries Service, which allowed the Navy to turn off or delay sonar if a marine animal was detected near a Navy ship. READ MORE OF THIS REPORT
