美国法院查证海军所用声呐残害动物
Sonar approved for use by the US Navy broke marine laws, a US appeals court has ruled. The case will now be sent back to a lower court for further consideration.
美国一家上诉法院近日裁定，美国海军所用的声呐违背了海洋法。此案件将交回下级法院进行进一步审理。The low-frequency active sonar, approved in 2012, is used to detect enemy submarines. But it can also harm whales, dolphins and walruses that rely on underwater sound for navigating, catching prey and communicating, according to environmental groups.
这种低频主动声呐于2012年获批用于侦查敌军潜艇。然而环保组织表示，声呐残害了依赖于水声进行导航、捕食和交流的鲸鱼、海豚和海象。In 2012, the National Marine Fisheries Service permitted navy sonar use but required it to shut down or delay use when a marine mammal was detected near the ships. Loud sonar pulses were also banned near coastlines and in certain protected waters.
2012年，美国国家海洋渔业局批准使用海军声呐，但一旦监测到海洋哺乳动物靠近船只时，需关闭声呐或延时使用。同样，在海岸线附近及特定的保护水域，禁止出现响亮的声呐脉冲。
Environmental groups, led by the Natural Resources Defense Council, filed a lawsuit in response, claiming the approval violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
美国自然资源保护委员会旗下的一家环保组织对此作出回应，他们提起诉讼，宣称允许使用声呐违反了海洋哺乳动物保护法。While it said it believed the navy had attempted to follow guidelines, it concluded that the fisheries service "did not give adequate protection to areas of the world's oceans flagged by its own experts as biologically important".
虽然上诉法院认为，海军已努力遵循原则，但是该法院仍裁定，渔业局"并没有对世界上的海洋给予充分保护，从生物学角度来讲，当地专家认为这些海洋十分重要"。According to experts, the sonar systems used by the navy generate sound waves that can reach 235 decibels - a loud rock band reaches around 130. These sound waves can travel for hundreds of miles under water and can retain an intensity of 140 decibels as far as 300 miles from their source.
有关专家表示，吵闹的摇滚乐团的噪声级别为130分贝左右，而海军的声纳脉冲测距系统发出的声波可达235分贝。这些声波可在水下传播数百米，在离声源300英里的地方强度仍高达140分贝。Although direct correlations are hard to find, some scientists believe that the use of sonar has changed the behaviour of whales which have been observed swimming away, sometimes hundreds of miles, rapidly changing their depth and beaching themselves.
尽管很难找到直接联系，但一些科学家仍认为，使用声呐已经改变了鲸鱼的某些行为，比如他们观察到，鲸鱼有时会在游到数英里的时候瞬间变换深度，将自己搁浅。
