Defence

Navy

Whale watching

Most people in the Australian community are unaware of the Royal Australian Navy's extensive role in environmental protection. While the Navy's focus must remain on maritime operational tasks and associated training to maintain core capabilities, Navy's mission to serve Australia and its interests has increasingly included safeguarding the environment. Navy's operational and training planning now invariably takes into consideration a wide range of environmental obligations associated with compliance with Australia's Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999.

Navy understands that adopting a minimalist approach to compliance with environmental legislation is not enough. Defence aims to be a leader in environmental management beyond mere compliance with regulations, and Navy is now at the forefront in developing and implementing sustainable environmental management practices, especially with respect to activities in offshore training areas and elsewhere at sea. Navy also plays a role in promoting and protecting conservation of Australia's natural resources through activities such as border protection, fisheries patrols, scientific research and hydrographic surveying.

Effective and appropriate environmental management can result in financial and operational benefits to Navy and Defence, through savings in areas such as fuel, electricity, water and waste management costs, plus avoidance of costly contamination clean up programmes if we get things wrong. For example, effective systems for management of onboard waste enable the Navy to operate its ships throughout the Great Barrier Reef, a site on the World Heritage List. Ongoing access to Navy's vital training areas in the future will be determined partly by the way Navy demonstrates its environmental stewardship of these areas today.

Navy is rightly proud of its environmental credentials, particularly in regard to its efforts aimed at the protection of marine mammals, some species of which are growing in numbers and understandably enjoy iconic status around Australia.

The potential effect of active sonar on marine mammals has attracted notable public interest and media attention, both in Australia and internationally in recent years, with some groups seeking to ban the use of active sonar. The debate has been influenced by a range of views and some misconceptions, such as the significant errors made in comparing received sound levels in air to those in water. Mainstream scientific opinion remains divided on the potential for active sonar to impact on marine mammals, but there is certainly no evidence that use of sonar by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) or visiting forces has caused marine mammal strandings on Australia's coastline. These frequent and unfortunate events remain natural - though often unexplained - phenomena, which pre-date by centuries the advent of man-made noise in the ocean.

The use of active sonar by the Navy remains an important operational requirement that provides warships with the ability to detect potentially hostile submarines. A combination of active and passive sonar systems is needed to detect submarines in likely operational areas for the Royal Australian Navy.

While acknowledging that a proportion of the RAN fleet is equipped with active sonar used in anti-submarine warfare, Australia does not operate high power, low frequency active sonar such as the Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS) that has been the target of court action in the United States (US). During any Defence exercises with Australia, the US complies with Australia's strict environmental legislation and observes the Australian protocols standards in terms of measures used to protect marine life and the environment. Large exercises, especially those involving foreign countries, are subject to rigorous internal and external Defence environmental impact assessment.

To minimise any potential risks Navy activities may have on the environment, Navy works closely with Environmental Stewardship in Corporate Services and Infrastructure Group, Army and RAAF, and especially with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, which supports programs investigating marine mammals and the effect of man-made noise on the ocean environment. On the basis of this and other research, a comprehensive environmental evaluation and risk assessment has been conducted. The result of this process is the family of environmental risk mitigation procedures within the newly introduced Australian Defence Force Maritime Activities Environmental Management Plan, which address risks mostly associated with large scale and collective training activities. Separate Environmental Management Plans are also being introduced for each class of RAN ship.

Consequently Navy has implemented detailed plans, protocols and procedures which represent world's best practice for military activities undertaken in the marine environment. For example, if marine mammals are detected inside a prescribed distance from a ship during an activity that might involve emission of high levels of underwater sound, either from sonar or underwater explosions, the ship or personnel concerned will relocate or delay the activity. This cautious approach ensures that marine mammals are not inadvertently exposed to high levels of acoustic energy that might directly affect their health or interfere with important behavioural characteristics that might affect their survival.

Defence has also been closely involved in and has funded research into the presence and activity of Pygmy Blue Whales, the largest mammals in our waters, and other species that frequent the West Australia Exercise Area. This research has dramatically improved the knowledge available about these whales, which informs Navy decision making on the optimum timing and location for specific training activities in the area. Defence also collaborates with other scientific institutions, including universities, which not only assist Navy to identify environmental risks and manage its environmental responsibilities, but also contribute significantly to human understanding and knowledge of these mammals.

Navy recognises that its personnel are not trained to be environmental management experts, nor are they trained to understand the complex interactions of environmental laws that operate on land and at sea. Navy's people are trained to make the right operational decisions quickly and often in difficult and demanding circumstances.

To ensure that our people can do their jobs without inadvertently compromising their environmental compliance obligations, Navy will soon release an environmental management guide for Commanding Officers of ships, shore establishments and units. This aims to remind Commanding Officers of their environmental responsibilities, and to provide a concise summary of the critical information they need, and how to access more detailed advice from key Defence agencies.

Navy must strike a balance between meeting its capability objectives and delivering environmental protection. The two objectives are not mutually exclusive, as Navy's approach to improving its understanding of the effects of its activities on marine mammals clearly demonstrates. As the previous Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Chris Ritchie made clear: "Populations of various whale species around Australia continue to increase, some by as much as ten percent per annum, and may reach pre-whaling levels by 2020. This pleasing level of recovery means that Navy personnel can expect to see increasing numbers of whales at sea in future. We need to understand that our future ability to co-habit and conduct essential operational training in offshore areas frequented by whales will be determined by the care and attention we give now to meeting our environmental management responsibilities at sea."

Looking to the future, Navy will continue to demonstrate its long-established environmental awareness in ensuring sound environmental management processes and practices are adopted ashore and at sea.

Compiled by Navy Headquarters (Environment Policy)

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