Brandon Southall–a marine sound expert and former NMFS scientist–is quoted by the Washington Post as criticizing recently filed NGO litigation against Navy sonar. Dr. Southall said:
“I think the numbers citing potential harm presented by the Navy and NMFS are overestimates….Overall, I think the concerns are being amplified because the conservation groups are interested in getting people’s attention, and they get it by saying these animals are all going to die….This is where the Navy is kind of damned if they do and damned if they don’t….If you assume the worst-case scenario, using models that have different levels of uncertainty. . . you wind up getting really high numbers. They get these large numbers and they get sued.”
Click here for Washington post article containing Dr. Southall’s statements criticizing NMFS and NGOs.
