To: Commander of the Pacific Fleet, Mark Matsunaga Public Affairs Officer, National Marine Fisheries Services/ NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Governor Jay Inslee of Washington, Governor Sean Parnell of Alaska, Governor John Kitzhaber ...

Stop the testing of midrange sonar and testing of explosives in the Pacific Northwest.

The Naval Pacific Fleet should not be allowed to test a midrange sonar system damaging to threatened and endangered marine mammals in an area extending from Alaska to Northern California, including the inland waters of Washington. Additional training and testing should be curtailed until the cumulative effects of their activities have been studied in this already very stressed ecosystem.

Why is this important?

The inland waters of the Eastern North Pacific particularly Puget Sound and the Salish Sea are experiencing stress already and the science and governmental action needed to prevent or remediate problems is not being supported. The Navy’s EIS admits that Midrange sonar testing is damaging to threatened and endangered Dolphins and Whales who are dependent on the use of sonar for hunting. The Navy already conducts hundreds of explosive tests and training exercises in the test area with potential for ingestion of pollutants, entanglement, physical damage, and stress on the entire marine environment. These stressors can be cumulative and have widespread affects on the whole ecosystem besides threatened and endangered mammals. The Environmental Impact Statement can be viewed at: www.nwtteis.com