James L. Cummins

U.S. Navy Protects the Environment by James L. Cummins

The U.S. Navy understands the potential effects of its actions on the environment. Its 900,000 sailors and civilians provide maritime defense, support combat operations, and provide disaster relief. They are environmental stewards of the sea. 

The Navy’s environmental initiatives include safely disposing of waste and wastewater, reducing reliance on fossil fuels, protecting marine mammals and other wildlife, protecting sensitive habitats, and developing regional coastal and marine protection plans. Navy policy also requires compliance with all environmental laws. Part of ensuring compliance includes posting sailors to surveil the surrounding area during any training activity. If any marine species are detected within the training zone, activities are halted. They also take care to avoid sensitive marine habitats. 

The Navy funds monitoring marine mammals, fish, sea turtles, invertebrates, and habitats across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This includes acoustic monitoring, animal tagging, and other activities. The Navy has sponsored more than $300 million of marine research and monitoring projects worldwide. Navy scientists collaborate with research organizations, universities, and independent researchers to improve marine species research, effects analysis, monitoring, and mitigation development. 

The Navy also established the Living Marine Resources Program to develop, demonstrate, and assess information and applied technology solutions to better understand the environmental risks associated with at-sea testing and training activities. This program invests in determining risk-threshold criteria, developing ways to protect species and their habitats, and developing technologies for monitoring and mitigation. The Navy’s environmental monitoring efforts are extensive. 

For example, the coastal waters of Florida and Georgia serve as the winter calving ground for the North Atlantic right whale. They work with several universities to collect data on movement patterns, rates of travel, dive profiles, and sound production from this critically endangered species which aids in monitoring and protection of right whales. Navy-funded research also documents the behavior and movement patterns of beaked whales and pilot whales off the coast of North Carolina; monitoring how bottlenose dolphins respond to the detonation of underwater mines during training; working to understand sea turtle movement and habitat use in training areas; and studying how to limit harm to seabird populations on remote, Navy-owned islands. 

Navy scientists conduct baseline natural resource surveys on installations, for example, to help the Navy better understand and reduce potential effects of military operations and construction on wetlands and endangered species. The success of the Navy’s at-sea environmental stewardship program contributes to the success of their military missions, all while preserving the marine environment for future generations. 

Finding the right balance to protect our freedoms while also preserving the environment are responsibilities the U.S. Navy takes very seriously.

James L. Cummins is executive director of Wildlife Mississippi.

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