NEWS BULLETIN: On July 16, 2002, the U.S. Navy was given a permit to deploy Low-Frequency Active sonar, a submarine-detection system, across as much as 80 percent of the world's oceans. The permit exempts the Navy from the Marine Mammal Protection Act, allowing it to harm whales, dolphins, and other species while flooding the oceans with intense sound. The permit is too broad to afford any meaningful protection for marine life. NRDC -- leading a coalition of environmental groups -- has sued the U.S. Navy and the National Marine Fisheries Service to block deployment of the system. (Press release.)

Don't let them blast whales and other marine mammals with dangerous sonar -- take action now.

The U.S. Navy wants to keep tabs on the seas. But it's facing A whale of a problem: The technologies it says it needs to spy on enemy subs are so loud that they can ruin the lives of nearby leviathans, which rely on their ears like we use our eyes.

By Diana Muir
Eavesdropping on the ocean's gossip

The haunting underwater song of whales has become such familiar music that it is easy to forget that a generation ago no human had ever heard the voice of the leviathan, much less attempted to understand what they were saying. Alexandra Morton listens to whales. In their songs, she hears not only the beauty and mystery of the deep, but keys to the complex lifeways of a species. Her "Listening to Whales" is the coming of age story of a scientist, a surprising story because Morton's first adult steps were taken in a decidedly unscientific direction.

U.S. Message:
Go Back to Sleep America,
we are taking care of our freedom from the
Marine Mammal Protection Act, allowing us to harm whales and dolphins