CNMI NewsMonday March 24, 2008
By Gemma Q. Casas, Variety News Staff
WITH about 90 percent of global trade carried by ships, the U.S. Navy says it must intensify sonar training among its operatives in the waters of the Marianas to protect global economy and prevent wars.
A report from the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s meeting on Guam quoted Ed Lynch of the U.S. Pacific Fleet as saying that submarines from rouge states continue to be a treat in the security of international shipping industry.
He said active and passive sonar technology is very important to detect their movement and activities.
“Submarines continued to be a major threat. As such active and passive sonar arrays are very important. Critical choke points for shopping are narrow straits like Hormuz, Gibraltar and Malacca. Littoral regions bring significant problems for passive sonars with ambient noise,” said the report quoting Lynch.
“Most diesel electric subs operate in the littoral regions and many countries have diesel-electric subs (e.g. North Korea has 400 alone). The Mariana islands provide opportunities for training in deep and shallow littorals,” it added.
Lynch said passive sonar enables the U.S. Navy to hear sounds without transmitting sounds but this system is not so accurate.
He said the surrounding waters in the Marianas will enable American sailors to train in deep and swallow waters to practice their knowledge in active sonar technology which would allow the Navy to see underwater movement of submarines without being detected
“The Navy needs to train operatives in the Marianas. Sonar power is needed to effectively detect hostile threats before it can threaten assets. No Marine mammal stranding have ever occurred in the Marianas due to sonar,’ the report from the fishery council stated.
“Globally, three million marine mammals were killed worldwide by fishing nets versus 37 possible fatalities for sonar but this was not scientifically determined. The Navy expends $10-14 million on marine mammal research for sonar,” it added.
In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the CNMI’s claim over its submerged lands which include a 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
The lower federal courts ruled earlier that the authority over the submerged lands, including minerals around them, belong to the federal government because the CNMI surrendered its rights to these submerged lands when it became a commonwealth of the U.S.
The Fitial administration refuses to accept the federal government’s offer to give the CNMI control over a three-mile zone as embodied in the U.S. Senate bill known as S. 183, which was not passed by the 109th Congress.
With the exception of Puerto Rico, the other U.S areas such as Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa, also have jurisdiction to just three miles of their submerged lands.
S. 1831 was not acted during the 109th U.S. Congress.
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