Fishing for answers

The Navy has finally hit on the right answer in its on-going debate with environmentalists, government agencies and state officials who are worried about the effects of a sonar training range proposed for North Carolina's coastal waters.

A Navy spokesman says a supplemental draft environmental study may be in the works. The new study would be in response to unanswered questions and concerns that the proposed training range would harm local sea life, migrating whales, commercial and recreational fishing businesses and the ocean floor itself.

"We don't want to be a bad neighbor," a Navy spokesman said. That may be the most welcome news to come from the Navy since the range was first proposed.

The Navy's desire to have a permanent East Coast range to train its sonar operators is understandable. It is inconvenient and expensive to move ships and crews from the Atlantic fleet to the existing sonar range off the California coast. The Navy has designed a 660-square mile range off Camp Lejeune's training beaches. It would duplicate the shallow waters found off the coast of potential enemy nations.

Unfortunately, studies have shown that exposure to sonar waves may harm sea life. Sonar is a strong suspect in the otherwise unexplained beaching and subsequent death of whales and dolphins.

Just this week the federal fisheries agency, echoing concerns raised by North Carolina, says while the Navy draft environmental study has looked at the issue of sonar's effects on whales, it has not adequately considered the impact on fin fish.

Also, fisheries officials say, the permanent grid of cables and electronic gear that would crisscross the sea floor could harm slow-growing deep sea coral reefs where fish gather.

The Navy would be wise to take another more extensive and critical look at the effects of its proposed sonar range. The superficial examination conducted so far has raised more questions than it has answered.