Honolulu, HI —A federal judge ruled yesterday that the National Marine Fisheries Service acted illegally in approving U.S. Navy testing and training activities in the Pacific Ocean that threaten widespread harm to whales, dolphins, other marine mammals and imperiled sea turtles.

The Navy and Fisheries Service had concluded that, over the plan’s five-year period, the Navy’s use of explosives and sonar, along with vessel strikes, could result in thousands of animals suffering death, permanent hearing loss or lung injuries. Millions of others could be left with temporary injuries and significant disruptions to feeding, breeding, communicating, resting and other essential behaviors. In all, the Navy’s plan would cause an estimated 9.6 million instances of harm to marine mammals.

The decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaiʻi results from a December 2013 lawsuit brought by Earthjustice, representing Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi, the Animal Welfare Institute, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Ocean Mammal Institute, which challenged the Fisheries Service’s approval of Navy operations off Hawaiʻi and Southern California as violating the National Environmental Policy Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act and Endangered Species Act.

More: http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2015/court-rules-navy-training-in-pacific-violates-laws-meant-to-protect-whales-sea-turtles#.VcJZQrfmm-h.facebook