Not just because there are no whales on the Supreme Court.
At a 2004 International Whaling Commission symposium, more than 100 scientists signed a statement asserting that the association between sonar and whale deaths “is very convincing and appears overwhelming.” This was backed up by a 2005 report by the Natural resources defense Council: “Sounding the Depths II: The Rising Toll of Sonar, Shipping and Industrial Ocean Noise on Marine Life”
Google: “Winter, Sec. of Navy v. Natural Res. Defense Council, Docket No. 07-1239”
You can save all the whales you want, but without active sonar, you can’t find a sub. That means the bad guys can park whatever missiles they want on any coast they want. And the cartels can move as much yayo as they want into suburbia. And the pirates can take whatever merchant ships wherever, whenever they want.
You know what? Car emissions kill birds. Why doesn’t the supreme court ban automobiles? That’s an easy question to answer. And to those who work with sonar 24/7, the first question is just as simple and just as critical to preserving our way of life.
So we decriminalize and regulate drugs, thus eliminating the giant black market for drugs and begin arming merchant ships to resist pirates. Do pirates even use submarines? I thought ship-to-ship locating was determined with radar, not sonar (which operates only underwater)?
No we don’t ban autos, we change their emissions, presumably by changing their primary energy source. No false dichotomies needed.
I think we should ban the ocean. You know, get giant pumps and put all the water in space. More land for everyone! Of course, we could breed some whales in captivity for food and entertainment.
These are very much non-trivial issues, requiring a major paradigm shift in both areas for them to happen. So, while I may like where your head’s at: this isn’t happening anytime soon.
Yes, the better-equipped ones, like those who have been operating with relative impunity in SE Asia for quite some time. In South America, semi-submersibles are the new hot toy. As soon as Iran starts selling off their midget subs(< 5 yrs), we’ll see them in the gulf, too.
Sure. But how do we go sub to ship or ship to sub? Sonar, baby.
And here’s one to rock your world: air to surface and air to sub tracking and detection is largely a sonar business. Partly because sonobuoys are a lot cheaper than high-fidelity surface search radar and partly because sounds travel so much farther and cleaner in water than air. (It’s also a lot easier to carry one tool for two jobs, rather than two for one each, on an airplane where weight and space are critical.
We’re working on it, trust me. But it’s going to take a lot of R&D $$$$$$$ to get it ready for prime time, and a ton more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ to replace current equipment and implement fleet-wide. Money that, well, nobody has to give or wants to give right now.
The crux is we’re all about not killing things unnecessarily, but we will take a massive security hit if we just shut down all our active sonar. We as a nation have collectively decided that we’d rather take the few dead whales than a 9-11 from the sea. But, please, we’re certainly open to suggestions that don’t compromise security.
The US Supreme Court sides against whales because there are no whales on the court the richness of whose experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a Hispanic woman who hasn’t lived that life.
Why Shamu was not nominated I’ll never understand.
