Florida isn't known for whale watching, but every winter the coastline offers a haven for endangered North Atlantic right whales. They migrate to warm, shallow waters to give birth and nurse little -- relatively speaking -- one-ton bundles of blubber.

That's right next to where the U.S. Navy wants to conduct antisubmarine training.

The Navy has selected a site bordering a federally protected whale nursery stretching from Savannah to Sebastian for an undersea warfare range, where ships, submarines and aircraft outfitted with powerful sonar can practice hunting subs.

Citing voluminous studies, the Navy concluded that training 58 miles off Jacksonville would rarely, and barely, disturb right whales.

Environmentalists say the Navy has soft-pedaled risks from the 500-square-mile range.

Ship strikes already rank as the top right whale killer. The Navy also intends to heavily employ sonar that can disrupt feeding and communication, cause hearing damage and -- in extreme cases -- trigger mass strandings such as one in the Bahamas that killed six beaked whales in 2000.

``It's one of the worst possible places,'' said Catherine Wannamaker, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, one of 21 groups that contested the choice. ``It's right next to the calving grounds for one of the rarest whales in the world.''

The groups contend that the range poses a disruptive, potentially deadly threat to a whale population numbering no more than 400 -- and that's after producing 39 calves last year, the most in decades. Florida and Georgia environmental regulators have raised similar concerns.

NAVY MOVING AHEAD

The Navy approved the site last month after getting a crucial, if qualified, approval from the National Marine Fisheries Service, the agency responsible for protecting the endangered whales. Though the Navy can build the $100 million range, scheduled to open in 2014, it will need a separate permit to use it.

In the interim, the service said it will reconsider if a whale is struck during work, if monitoring shows more whales than expected in the range or ongoing sonar studies prove more serious risks.

As of now, James Lecky, director of the fisheries service's office of protected resources, sees no compelling reason to restrict Navy training. In a 235-page analysis, the service found that the 470 operations the Navy plans each year will disturb few whales -- 48, by Navy estimates -- and not in a way that would cause long-lasting harm.

Lecky said the service shares concerns about sonar impacts, but said critics incorrectly lump right whales in with other whale species especially vulnerable to the underwater sound pulses. Right whales haven't been victims in any mass groundings, he said.

``If I had to be critical of the environmental community, it would be that they tend to generalize,'' he said.

For the Navy, Florida's location and logistics beat sites off South Carolina, North Carolina and Maryland. Jacksonville boasts a seaport, air base and submarine base across the St. Mary's River in King's Bay, Ga.

The Navy already has a deep-water sonar range in the Bahamas, but Julie Ripley, the Navy's environmental spokeswoman, said the shallow sea floor and busy shipping lanes off northeast Florida provide a real-world test for sonar operators who must pinpoint a new generation of stealthier subs.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@