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The U.S. Navy is requesting to increase its accidental whale collision limit

by thebesig••38

The Navy currently has a limit of three accidental whale collisions until December 2025. However, the Navy collided with three whales from 2021 to 2023. The Navy wants to increase that number given the probability of strike analysis it has conducted. Not counting against the U.S. Navy’s quota were the two whales that an Australian Navy ship hit in May 2021.

From the Navy Times:

The Navy has requested an increase on the capped number of marine mammals it is allowed to unintentionally harm during Pacific training after the service’s vessels struck a number of whales in recent years off the coast of Southern California.

The sea service’s proposal seeks to raise the limit of approved whale-related incidents, set in a government agreement, before an authorization period ends in December 2025, according to a public notice posted to the Federal Register last month.

With the public comment period on the proposal closing Friday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told Military Times it anticipates making a decision on whether to finalize the suggested update in the spring of next year.

And while the Navy sees its request as justified, environmental groups are not happy.

“The Navy’s main response to hitting and killing whales is to ask for permission to harm more whales. It’s nonsensical and extremely disappointing,” Kristen Monsell, an attorney with the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, told Military Times via email.

The Navy Times has additional information here.

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38 thoughts on “The U.S. Navy is requesting to increase its accidental whale collision limit”

  1. Ships are big. Whales are big. Both are in the ocean and accidents are going to happen. Will the Army be capped on how many deer, possum, or racoons its vehicles strike? How about bird strikes in aircraft?

    1. Back 40+ years ago when I attended Air Force survival school at Fairchild AFB WA at this time of year we received a briefing from a Forest/Park Ranger that covered the wilderness area where the actual field training was accomplished. He proceeded to list for us the number and type species allocated for students over the course of the year. Three numbers stood out. 10,000 trout, 10 Deer, and 2 Bears. He then went on to tell us that there was no limit on the number of students the bears could harvest.

      1. In the early 90’s when I did some time on Fort BENNING, it was said that recipes for a certain species of Woodpecker were popular to share among Ossifers.

  4. So, being the nautically challenged guy that I am, what happens if they exceed the quota? Does the Navy get parked until the next year?

    1. DNR comes is, checks for proper licenses, and if over quota they levy a fine and possibly impound the gear being used.

        1. State parks, Riverways, any public body of water. All qualify for an “inspection” if they feel like it. Private property ponds and lakes are just that. Private.

  6. “environmental groups are not happy”.

    Hmmmm, curious to see if this unhappiness will also be extended to offshore wind turbines. It’s green or something…

  8. Soooooooo…….
    Are there increases on collisions due to an increase in the amounts of whales in the ocean?
    Or…….
    Are there increases on collisions due to a DECREASE in the training and alertness of the ship drivers?

  9. Yeah, let’s park all of our combat vessels pier side, so we don’t hit any more fucking whales. Our enemies will certainly reciprocate.

  11. Save the whales! We gonna need them to replace the other fossil fuels that we quit producing. Whale oil lamps will be back in vogue.

    Has Big Navy asked for an increase in the number of other ships or under water things they can hit? For sure Navy will not hit the End Zone and will have a whale of a time trying come a few weeks from now! gabn

  12. “Center for Biological Diversity” They (Specifically Dr. Robin Silver) have been attempting to close Huachuca on environmental grounds for decades. The term “vexatious litigant” (a term I learned right here at TAH) definitely applies.

  14. WELL SHIT, if they have another Whale Collision, just harvest whatever meat they can from the corpse and consult with the Japanese for some good recipes!

  15. I know far too much about this, and I won’t bore y’all with it. Suffice it to say when I was testing airborne sonar systems every time a bottle nosed porpoise washed up on a beach in, say Narragansett Bay, I’d get a frantic phone call from the Program Office’s Environmental Desk asking if we were pinging sonobuoys in the area. We weren’t, of course.

    Now migrating whales are beaching themselves to avoid wind farms. The kabuki theater plays on.

  16. Well if the Governor of Oregon can do away with minimum academic standards for obtaining a High School diploma because certain demographics consistently fail to meet the minimum, why can’t the Navy increase the number of whale collisions they are allowed to have?

  17. There is a lot of colliding with whales every Saturday morning after payday at the Base Commissary.

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