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On August 26, 2003, federal magistrate Judge
Elizabeth Laporte announced her intention to issue a permanent
injunction against the global deployment of the Navy’s Low Frequency
Active (LFA) sonar system. She directed the parties to meet and confer
on the location of a limited area where, during the term of the
injunction, the Navy could test and train with the system in the
interest of national security.
On Wednesday, October 8, 2003, a coalition of
conservation and animal welfare organizations, the U.S. Navy, and the
National Marine Fisheries Service signed and submitted for approval in
federal court an agreement limiting LFA sonar's future deployment.
The agreement will only govern the Navy’s use of the system during
peacetime, provides the following:
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Instead of its
existing authorization to deploy LFA sonar over 75% of the world’s
oceans, the Navy will limit deployment to specific areas along the
eastern seaboard of Asia (around North Korea and China), which
includes portions of the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea, the South
China Sea, and the Philippine Sea (see map below).
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Agreed Deployment Area
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Within these areas,
the Navy has agreed to certain year-round and seasonal exclusions to
protect important whale migrations – for example, the western gray and
humpback whales – and to coastal exclusions ranging from 30 nautical
miles to 60 nautical miles.
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All other areas of the
world’s oceans will be off limits, including, for example, the waters
around Hawaii, throughout the North Pacific, and along the eastern
seaboard of the United States, all of which were specifically sought
by the Navy for operations at various points in the litigation.
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