What do you know about the North Atlantic Right Whale? The people of Georgia cherish this magnificent whale so much that they lobbied the State Legislature to make the Right Whale the State Mammal of Georgia. In 1984, an expedition from Saint Simons Island found that our waters are the only calving grounds for the Right Whale. They commissioned a sculpture of a mother whale and her calf and put up a plaque bearing the words, “For it is in these waters that the destiny of the world’s most endangered whale will be written” I believe these words oblige us to guard the destiny of this rarest of whales.

Watching children play on the sculpture , I thought the whale was secure. However The National Marine Fisheries Services(NMFS) , a division of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the government agency that is supposed to protect endangered whales ,has bowed to pressure and granted a permit to the US Navy which will result in killing many thousands of whales and dolphins in the Atlantic, Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico.

The mainland and barrier islands off Brunswick, Georgia are in the middle of the Navy’s plans for the Atlantic Seaboard. The Navy will use this area for military maneuvers using sonar, an intense blast of sound that destroys a whale’s hearing and causes the soft tissue of its brain to rupture. The whale is deafened and cannot use its echolocation to navigate, find food, or care for its young. A deaf whale is a dead whale! The Navy has refused to mitigate the damage by not blasting the whales during the birthing and nursing seasons.
Most people believe our military would not be killing whales if it could be avoided. There is modern technology, which is harmless to sea creatures.

Georgians honor our US Navy for their dedication to the safety of America. We honor all who served in The United States Military and our desire is to work together to find solutions, alternatives that will allow humans and all life forms on Earth to live harmoniously together.

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AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF GEORGIA (Full Letter)

What do you know about the North Atlantic Right Whale? Never seen one? Neither have I, but the people of Coastal Georgia cherish this magnificent whale, bigger than the Humpback, longer than a Greyhound bus, so much that they lobbied the State Legislature to make the Right Whale the State Mammal of Georgia. In 1984, an expedition from St. Simons Island found out that our waters are the only calving grounds for the Right Whale. They commissioned a sculpture of a mother whale and her calf and put up a plaque bearing the words, “For it is in these waters that the destiny of the world’s most endangered whale will be written.”

The first time I read those words, they made a powerful impression on me. I believe that they oblige Georgians to guard the destiny of this rarest of the large whales. Watching children from all over the country play on the sculpture, I thought that the Right Whale was secure.

Then a letter in The Brunswick News jolted me out of my complacency and started me on a quest to do all I can to make sure that this whale’s destiny gets changed from what it is now. The letter said that the US Navy planned to build a 500 square mile submarine warfare training range, using sonar and underwater explosions, right here in the only place on earth that the Right Whale has to birth its young.

I was stunned, but I realized that the only way to guard the Right Whale was to rally the support of my fellow Georgians and anybody else I could reach. I started researching, finding out everything I could about this magnificent creature and how people might protect it. This is what I found out:

The National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS), the government agency that is supposed to protect this and other endangered whales has bowed to pressure from the military complex and granted a permit to the US Navy to maim and kill many thousand of whales and dolphins in the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific, which constitutes an area the size of Mexico.

The mainland and barrier islands off Brunswick, Georgia, located between submarine bases in Kings Bay, Georgia and Mayport, Florida, are smack dab in the middle of the Navy’s plans for the Atlantic Seaboard. No matter that NOAA has always protected the Right Whale in its most critical habitat, the calving grounds. Now, the Navy is going full steam ahead.

A coalition of environmental groups led by the Southern Environmental Legal Center (SELC) tried to get the Navy to mitigate the damage by not blasting the whales continuously during birthing and nursing seasons but the Navy refused, and Federal Judge Lisa Godbey Wood of Brunswick, Georgia ruled in favor of the Navy.

I believe that the Navy picked the Georgia coast because they assumed that we couldn’t make the powerful protest that took place in North Carolina, the first site for the warfare range, in 2005. When 36 whales washed up dead on the beach after only four days of military maneuvers using sonar, the people sent 40,000 pieces of protest mail, and the Navy relocated the range to the coasts of Georgia and Florida.

The Navy is counting on our acceptance of the range as necessary for a strong defense, jobs, and local prosperity. Most Southerners are patriots who believe that our National Defense is paramount.

But when I tell people that sonar is a hideous, intense blast of sound which destroys a whale’s hearing and causes the soft tissue in its brain to rupture and its ears to bleed, with the result that the whale is deafened and cannot navigate, find food, care for its young, or even get back to its pod, or family group, which has scattered trying to escape from the shrill blasts of sonar, they are horrified. Georgians are not stupid. Once we know that sonar has been proven to cause mass strandings all over the world, we understand it might happen here.

Still, most people believe that our Navy wouldn’t be killing whales if there were a way to avoid it. I beg to challenge this assumption with the facts.
Sonar is 20-year-old technology. Modern technology exists, which is harmless to sea creatures and extremely accurate.

Yes, we need to search out enemy submarines, but sonar isn’t the best way to do it. Modern small subs can actually be coated with sonar-repelling paint. Tests carried out with our allies proved that these subs consistently evaded detection by sonar. So it’s in the best interests of the Navy and all U.S. citizens to use modern satellite technology instead of old, ineffective sonar. There is not a compelling need to kill thousands of sea animals.

We as Georgians need to remember that in these waters, we protect the Right Whale. Harbor captains, pleasure boaters, and freighters must slow to 10 knots to help avoid vessel strikes, but the Navy refuses to adhere to any speed limit, thus guaranteeing deaths of whales from ship strikes.

Another problem is the Navy’s method of detecting the presence of whales. They do this visually, using a sailor to spot the whale, very difficult when that whale is dark in color and has no dorsal fin. Besides, the thunderous blasts of underwater sound can carry 900 miles, so the whale does not need to be within sight to be harmed. Show me the sailor who can see 900 miles and I will endorse visual detection.

Our own Navy has permission to kill, maim & harass whales, dolphins & other cetaceans 31 million times over the next 5 years, despite numerous lawsuits, including one here in Georgia, mounted by environmental organizations including The Humane Society, National Defenses Resources Council (NRDC), and led by the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC). Federal judges, including one who lives here, have accepted the assurance of the Navy that “the damage will be minimal” despite these statistics released by the Navy. I believe that the Navy’s projection of “takes” is proof that their claim of “minimal damage” is bogus.

My fellow Georgians, we need to know that besides the deafening and killing of Right Whales, thousands of Bottlenose Dolphins will be killed, adding to the alarming die off of dolphins taking place now. And we need to understand the collateral damage that will come from waging warfare in our waters: that our shrimping industry will be impacted by the heavy electric cables strung across the floor; that our fishing industry will be competing for space with the huge Navy deployment and that our fish may be contaminated; that sea turtles will be trapped in the netting and drown. We need to realize that sonar buoys dropped from helicopters and underwater explosions will harm not only cetaceans, but fish and turtles as well. We should be aware that our tourism will be heavily impacted once a trip to the beach means getting buzzed by Seahawk helicopters and huge Navy jets as well as surface vessels defining our horizon. Our fishing charters and dolphin watch captains need to know that their way of life is at risk.

Here’s the biggest reason why engaging in underwater warfare is so bad for the Right Whale. The Pacific Humpback whale numbers 21,000. The pilot whales killed in North Carolina have a population close to a million. The number of Right Whales existing today? 350 total. I am not suggesting that the warfare range be moved to a place where the cetacean population is larger. It is cruel and inhumane to harm any whale or dolphin, but in Georgia, our Right Whale is facing certain extinction from 20 years of continuous sonar and underwater explosives. How can NOAA abandon its role as protector and become the de facto executioner of our State Mammal? How can we Georgians stand by and let this happen?
Georgians honor our U.S. Navy for their dedication to the safety of America. We honor all who have served in the United States Military and our desire is to work together to find solutions, alternative technologies that will stop the slaughter of whales and dolphins. Solutions that will allow humans and all life forms on Earth to live harmoniously together.