Sirius Institute P.O. Box 1645 Pahoa, Hawai'I 96778 Phone ((808) 969-3160 Email: siriusinstitute@yahoo.com See: Sirius Institute links at www.planetpuna.com April 3, 2000   Donna Wieting, Chief Marine Mammal Conservation Division Office of Protected Resources National Marine Fisheries Service 1315 East-West Highway Silver Spring, MD 20910-3226. Fax 301-713-0376   Dear Ms. Wieting: This is a request for a PUBLIC HEARING and EXTENDED PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD on the LFAS/SURTASS permit now contemplated by NMFS. This is also a plea for you personally and the NMFS as an agency to STOP the LFAS testing and deployment by whatever means at your disposal.   There are many philosophical, moral, ethical, ecological, strategic, scientific, medical, as well as simply legal issues involved. The permitting of LFAS relates to our choices regarding who we are and how we choose to behave toward the other beings with whom we share the Earth. These issues are so broad, so important, and so profound in their implications that a public hearing and extended review period are required for full understanding. The import of LFAS deeply involves our entire planet and its ecosystems, issues that go well beyond just the proper legal administration of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act and other legislation intended to protect the environment.   We must, as a species, look closely at what we are doing to our planet and choose wisely. We have public testimony, videos, research, many personal testimonies, and issues of state, of the deployment of prohibited acoustic weapons, and other data to present that are beyond what can be properly decided by comment letters such as this one.   There is a wholesale genocide of the Cetacea already underway that makes the Holocaust look like a walk in the park. We have a major push by other nations to even resume commercial whaling. Killing off the Cetacea will close the doors on the many benefits they offer. We must stop now. Failing this, things look bleak. We have only to choose a bright future for the Cetacea, ourselves, or face a dying planet that will take us with it as it dies.   WE HAVE ZERO RIGHT TO KILL OFF THE CETACEA.   (Remember the Star Trek movie, where the destruction of the Humpbacks removed sentient life from Earth and triggered the sterilization probe -- )   We are deciding the fate of the Cetacea Nation, a multispecies people that are older by millions of years than our entire evolutionary history, wiser, more intelligent, with their own cultures and languages, with life spans longer than any other creature. The Cetacea are animals only in the sense that we are animals, and are proven to be self-aware (Ken Marten, Earthtrust), capable of communicating by synthetic language (J. C. Lilly, W. Batteau, L. Herman), have their own language (J. Lilly, Markov and Ostrakaya), cross-generational transmission of culture, tool use, and deutero-learning ("learning to learn", see Bateson and Karen Pryor). All these have been used as defining traits of being human and are now known to be shared with the Cetacea. All the preceding have been scientifically or experientially demonstrated, at least to our satisfaction. For those who feel otherwise, we suggest - read history, read John Lilly's works, go be with the Cetacea, swim with them, and talk with the many people who have had transformative experiences with them.   Since Cetacea live in the water, they are indeed extra-terrestrial.   We may one day openly meet other extra-terrestrials. How do we wish to appear to them ... as wise & compassionate or as ignorant, barbaric killers?   We are only beginning to appreciate the Cetacea, and we must preserve and protect them, at least so we have the opportunity to learn even more.   The Cetacea are entitled to our respect and care. They have as much right to exist in harmony and safety as any human. We must preseve and honor them, and with this one decision, we will automatically honor, preserve and protect our oceans, our planet, and ourselves. We humans have much to learn from the Cetacea, in terms of who we are, where we came from ... and where we are going as a species. The Cetacea can teach us about our history, ourselves; they have and continue to restore our bodies and spirits, help us with better ways to birth our children, help teach us how to be gentle, kind and caring to each other and all the creatures of the Earth. The Cetacea have helped humans for centuries, helping us fish, guiding our ships, rescuing our people in trouble at sea. They have inspired the oracles at Delphi, were considered the highest manifestation in physical form by the ancient Greeks, and still inspire those of us who know them with a breadth of gentleness and caring that is enchanting.   We must accord Cetacea legal status as a people, as a culture, and, dare I say, love them as they constantly demonstrate they love us. When we return their love the planet will be well, and we will have demonstrated our maturity as a species. We have the chance, the opportunity, the knowledge to so chose a better future.   This is the choice we are facing. Therefore, we demand full and complete public hearings, an extended comment period, and a stop to further testing and deployment of LFAS/SURTASS by any nation, and the stopping, for now and forever, of any weapon system that might harm our beloved Cetacea.   I have been a friend of the Cetacea since at least age 14. Based partly on this friendship, I was inspired, especially by the work of Dr. John C. Lilly, to become a biologist, and later ardent student and proud colleague of Dr. Hank Truby, linguist and acoustic phonetician to the Communication Research Institute when they were teaching English to Elvar and Tolva Dolphin and developing other means for full objective communication with the Cetacea. Among other research, Dr. Truby was the first to demonstrate the profound benefit to autistic children of being with dolphins. His work started what has now developed into the field of Dolphin Assisted Therapy.   During the Dolphin Project of Dr. Truby's World Dolphin Foundation, where I was Scientific Liaison, I befriended Florida and Liberty Dolphin. I learned a tremendous amount from these interactions. In 1990, Paradise Newland formed the Sirius Institute, a dolphin and whale research consortium, and I became a co-founder and its research director. It is dedicated to the integration of the Cetacea into our society and to the exploration of the many benefits this will have for all of us.   Shortly thereafter, I swam with Dreamer Dolphin at Dolphins Plus in Key Largo, and during this swim, she fixed an old neck injury of mine (a compression of my 6th and 7th cervical vertebrae) with some 20 sharp, fast, sonar pulses. This lead me to extensive research into dolphin assisted therapy and dolphin assisted underwater birth and other topics, such as the history of our relationships with the Cetacea, which has continued here in Hawaii until the present. From all the preceding, I have learned the Cetacea are intelligent, loving, sentient beings who have been and can be of great benefit to us in terms of our understanding of the world, our wellbeing, and that they have been our partners through the ages, ready, willing, and able to teach us profound truths.   This is now called into great danger by the LFAS/SURTASS project of the US Navy, NATO, France, and others.   As a member of the Citizen's Advisory Council on National Space Policy, former Research Director for Pacific American Launch Systems, helping to develop Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) passenger rockets, and as a design engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratories, developing electrostatic levitators, as well as a neurobiologist who has interacted with and studied whales and dolphins for many years, and as one of those designing and testing the next phases human-dolphin communication through the Sirius Institute, I feel I have a broad enough background and expertise to comment on the following issues.   Strategic Implications of LFAS   The Navy EIS is seriously flawed because it fails to address the implications of LFAS as a weapon and because it fails to address the effects of the COMPLETED LFAS system in its entirety. This subdivision of a total project into small segments to avoid doing an EIS on the entire system is against the law. The Navy has both subdivided the project and deceived the public and NMFS by controlling the total context, the domain of discourse, about the project. For example, by using the bogus criterion of a "one ping equivalent" and such, while completely ignoring the resonance phenomena reported by Dr. Balcomb (See Appendix I.) and other clear evidence of harm (See Appendix II).   Another matter ignored is that TIME REVERSED ACOUSTICS are used, as detailed by Dr. Mathias Fink in the November 1999 Scientific American. In this article, Dr. Fink shows how any sound received by a LFAS array can be reversed in time (after recording) and sent back to the point of detection, massively amplified. This is known as a phase-conjugate system. At the proposed 240 dB levels of output reported, and using several ships in concert, where the powers of each are combined in phase, one can develop powers and intensities orders of magnitude more intense than a single array, in fact the increase is on the order of the SQUARE of the number of systems combined. Thus the 5 ship fleet proposed for testing when combined will have powers approaching 5 X 5 or 25 times as intense, and with 30 ships together (as projected for the DEPLOYED system, which is what the EIS should have actually covered) then the total power is some 30 X 30 or 900 times the power and intensity of a single 18 projector array hung under only one ship. These systems can create shock waves in the water, intense pressure waves traveling at 5500 feet per second. With sharp focusing, and by making two or more shock waves cross going different directions, the water cavitates, leaving a region of steam in the cavitated area. This area then collapses, like a large bubble, with the release of tremendous focused energy, analagous to an acoustic "laser" Suppose one projected a broad band sound into the water, and then listened. Some frequencies would cause, say, a submarine hull to resonate, just as the whales' ears and tissues do. One would then receive the reflected sounds from the submarines in the area using the LFAS arrays. One then "time reverses" and amplifies this sound and sends it back. The hull of the targeted submarine will then be resonated, "rung like hitting a bell", with this resonant frequency at extremely high intensities. This could cause a hull, especially near its crush depth, to rupture, sinking the sub, killing the crew. This is an acoustic weapon, with capabilities both in detection and offensive attack. Such acoustic weapons were outlawed years ago by joint treaty of the US and USSR and in the Geneva Conventions. Thus, the LFAS is a matter for Geneva and the United Nations, and other planetary governing bodies such as the World Court at the Hague, and is thus beyond the jurisdiction of the NMFS, and in fact, is a matter for strategic debate. This is "Star Wars" underwater. I have also been told that the completed system will include some 1200 separate units mounted on the bottom of the world's oceans. This increases the influence and magnitude of sound even more. Then, to understand the total impact of this development, we must include the parallel work of NATO allies, France and opposing countries, perhaps the Russians, Chinese or others. Rapid proliferation is likely, given the basic principles are even available in Scientific American. This weapon, LFAS, can certainly harm the Cetacea, other marine life, and humans in the water, over some 80% of the world's oceans. The killing of Cetacea by low to mid-range sonars has already been demonstrated (See Appendix I and II) Therefore, any "small take exemption" is ludicrous at its face. The use of this weapon, as said before, is genocide on the Cetacea Nation. This is an act of war on the Cetacea, an act of brutality, fully comparable to the Holocaust of WWII, and therefore, actionable as a war crime ... especially when performed in time of peace for zero useful purpose. Finally, as described in Appendix II, the Navy has already developed passive listening devices that betters the performance of LFAS as a detector of underwater objects. Therefore, the LFAS testing and deployment must be stopped, on legal, moral and ethical grounds and may put those who harm the whales at risk of being charged with war crimes when the Cetacea Nation is recognized. This is a matter for the US State Department and the UN.   Ecological Implications   When the high powers of a phased array LFAS system are contemplated, one can suggest that all marine ecosystems could be effected. Obviously, schools of fish, coral reefs, any whale or dolphin, seals, turtles, food fish of all kinds, etc. can be killed outright by the sound levels and shock waves that LFAS can produce. The LFAS could literally clean the oceans of life, or cause massive disruption at all levels of the food chain. Already, before the system is even through the EIS process, it has been killing whales and dolphins.   The ecological implications are vast and severe. It must be stopped. Pull the Plug on LFAS.   Mitigation is a joke. This system can be simply lethal. Obviously, since all species in all the test and operational areas may be effected and/or killed, the NMFS must conclude that there are species and areas of operations that NMFS has failed to consider (see the list of species under sec. 216.180 of the proposed rule).   The impacts of this "noise" on marine mammals has been demonstrated, and since humans and other terrestrial mammals as well have similar resonances, they are all at risk, along with the marine mammals.   I have been told (please check this) that the LFA tests resulted in the shifting of the migratory paths of geese and perhaps other birds that detect the position of the Rocky Mountains based in part on infrasound detection. The presence of LFA sounds in the air is said to have confounded this perception and the birds shifted flyways. Since airline routes are now placed based on traditional flyways, the LFAS could move large numbers of birds into the paths of commercial air traffic and lead to major crashes with a large loss of life, as when a jet engine is destroyed by sucking in birds. There may be other effects that must be dealt with.   Further, NMFS and the Navy have yet to consider a huge realm of other possible effects; and therefore, based on the above considerations of the effects of the total deployed LFAS system, the calculations of "take" are severely flawed and too low to reflect reality, especially since whales are dead already from this "safe" system.   It is obvious that the "small take permit" exemption is zero applicable to a global system of this nature. Opportunities for the US and the Peoples of the Earth, Human and Cetacea We have the opportunity to make all of this different. Let us see what would likely happen when the LFAS is stopped and we recognize the Cetacea as a people and integrate them into our cultures. We assert that the total new options provided to the Human Race will be increased and the value of these developments exceed in value by far what LFAS may provide. This is a legal approach to banning the LFAS or similar devices. It is demonstrated here that stopping LFAS prevents a greater harm ... that of depriving all humans of the benefits we would lose should LFAS be approved. We detail some of these benefits below. We will appreciate our evolution better. It is now felt that the standard description of our evolution on the plains of Africa is wrong. In Appendix VII. The Aquatic Ape Story, we outline an alternate evolutionary path for humans that is strongly suggested by the fact that a fish oil, eicosanoic acid is required for our proper development. This realization came in part from considering the benefits of dolphin assisted underwater birth. In talking with Dr. Smirnoff, Research Director for Igor Tcharkofsky, the Russian underwater birth pioneer, I learned that babies born and raised around water develop 6 months faster over their first two years of life, walk and talk sooner, are very strong, and have on average about 150 grams higher brain weight. In talking with Dr. Gowri Motha, M.D., a physician who took 8 women to Israel to give birth with the dolphins, one child born with dolphins, had an I.Q. of 155. Obviously, more studies are needed. The possible benefits of partnering with the Cetacea in birthing our babies are important. The state of medicine will improve In Appendix VI., we present a proposal for a dolphin assisted brain trauma healing study that was requested by brain injured people on Oahu who are beyond help by our current medicine. In this proposal, we review the state of dolphin assisted therapy. One can easily see that developing Cetacea assisted therapy benefits many people, especially children, with conditions as diverse as cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome and autism. With the epidemic of drug use such as amphetamines, we propose that the Cetacea can help here as well. Partnership with the Cetacea will give us M.D.'s - Medical Dolphins, and change the face of medicine. Diplomatic relations with the Cetacea people will begin We present in Appendix III our description of the Cetacea Nation concept and in Appendix IV. our presentations concerning the benefits of recognizing the Cetacea as the people that they are, entitled to recognition under human laws. The current genocide of the Cetacea will stop. Environmental conditions of our oceans and coasts will improve as we provide a clean environment for our newly recognized peoples of the sea. With the establishment of full communications, we can enter into proper agreements with the Cetacea and we will learn what they have to tell us about the history of the Earth back 30 million years, and this will aid us in stabilizing the ocean environment. After all, they live there, are more intelligent than we are, and will know what is required. Birthing and child rearing will improve. As described in Appendix IX. How to Raise a Dolphin Conscious Child, our research has already created insights into the optimal way to raise children, based on the loving and gentle ways the Cetacea raise their own. Coupled with Cetacea assisted underwater birth and the restorations of wellbeing that can be had with their assistance, our children will be stronger, more intelligent and develop faster. We will be able to deal with disease conditions now beyond our medicine. New communication modes will be developed. On our website is a piece of music, Dolphin Valentine, that was created using pitch-tracked dolphin whistles converted to MIDI code. An MP3 file can be heard there. This is a preliminary result of our research and testing that will lead to an Interspecies Concert and other joint art works as well as forming the basis of a communications interface that will allow the Cetacea to communicate with us using their voices. In Appendix VIII. Telepathy's Gift, we discuss human-dolphin telepathy. Many of us have had experiences that are best described by the term telepathy. This means of communication is yet to be fully understood. It is possible, especially since the work of Eldon Byrd and Dean Rawlings show that the dolphin and sperm whale melons are piezoelectric, that under stimulation by sound, the melon generates high electromagnetic fields. Thus, as detailed by Cyril Smith in his book Electromagnetic Man, part of this putative telepathic communication may be explainable based on radio transmission and reception. There is a possibility that telepathy goes beyond our existing scientific understandings. Studies in this area are therefore quite important.   Implications of the recognition of Cetacea as the intelligent, sentient beings that they are.   In the process of partnering with and accepting the Cetacea into our cultures we will undergo a change of point of view that is as profound as the discovery of advanced extraterrestrial life, or as meaningful as the change of view caused by Copernicus or Darwin. Our place in the Universe, our evolution, must again be re-evaluated. Consider the truth that the Cetacea are at least as intelligent, and likely more intelligent than we are. Consider that the vast majority of actions by the Cetacea toward us are loving and gentle and often transform the people so connected to them. Our attitude to our planet, each other, and the environment will include the Cetacea and their wellbeing as a matter of respect, logic and necessity. In short, the implications of what we present here are numerous and important. Surely you will conclude with us that the Cetacea are worthy of our protection and our cooperation and our good will. We trust that you will see, in conclusion, that the LFAS permit must be rejected, that a public hearing on these matters is crucial, and that in the end, we will decide as a species to recognize the Cetacea as beings comparable to ourselves, and we will partner with, protect and preserve them for all time. For further details and information, please see the website of the Sirius Institute located at: www.planetpuna.com.   Follow the Sirius Institute links in the index, and see the Voice of the Dolphin Newsletter that displays some of our previous writings concerning LFAS. Thank you for your time and consideration.   Sincerely, in the Spirit of Aloha,   Michael T. Hyson. Ph.D. Research Director and Co-Founder Sirius Institute Puna, Hawai'I Paradise Newland, Founder Sirius Institute Adrian Barber Podner, Sirius Institute . CC:        President George W. Bush The US Department of State Secretary General Kofi Annan, United Nations         APPENDICES     I.    Ken Balcomb's Letter to the US Navy II.   Sources and References about the likely harm from LFAS III.  The Cetacea Nation IV.   Proposed Amendment to the Constitution of the         Lawful Hawaiian Government V.    Proclamation of a Sustainable, Alternate Energy, Child Centered         Human/Cetacean Community in Puna VI.   The Dolphin-Assisted Brain Trauma Healing Study VII.  The Aquatic Ape Story VIII. Telepathy's Gift IX.    How to Raise a Dolphin Conscious Child       Appendix I. Ken Balcomb's Letter to the US Navy   From: "Bahamas Marine Mammal Survey" <bmms@mail.oii.net>   Dear colleagues,   Attached is my letter to the US Navy concerning high power military sonars. It is obvious that dead and dying whales are often found coincident with tests and exercises employing the sonars, and I have attempted to explain why. I would appreciate any feedback you may have on this subject.   Ken Balcomb   ---------------------------------------------------     2/23/2001 Mr. J.S. Johnson Attn: SURTASS LFA Sonar OEIS/EIS Program Manager 901 North Stuart Street, Suite 708 Arlington, VA 22203     Dear Mr. Johnson:     Thank you for sending a copy of the Final Overseas Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental Impact Statement for Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active (SURTASS LFA) Sonar. Since my comments to you on the Draft OEIS/EIS (O-26; Balcomb, November 12, 1999), I have had the unique opportunity to witness and study a mass stranding of whales and a dolphin caused by a US Naval Sonar Exercise in the Bahamas (Pirie, ltr. June 15, 2000). That incident unequivocally demonstrated the lethality of high-powered sonars, and it provided the opportunity to understand how sonar has been inadvertently killing whales in vast expanses of ocean around the world.   The killing is largely due to resonance phenomena in the whales cranial airspaces that are tearing apart delicate tissues around the brains and ears. This is an entirely separate issue from auditory thresholds and traumas that the Navy has fixated upon. In my earlier comments, I questioned whether there might be a problem with injurious resonance phenomena created by the sonar system described in your OEIS/EIS; but, now I have seen the problem and can attest to the fact that there is massive injury to whales caused by sonar. This is not an exaggerated statement, and I am reasonably sure that the Navy knows that. Please allow me to explain what happens to the whales.   Resonance, as engineers well know, can dramatically contribute to shear forces that can be quite damaging; wings tear off airplanes, bridges gallop, and buildings collapse, etc. due to unanticipated resonance phenomena which can afterwards be explained by simple physics and mechanics. I wondered about tissue damage caused by resonance, and I specifically asked what the Navy calculations for lung resonance frequencies of a beaked whale were at various depths.   [You sidestepped my question by responding generically to my comment with response 4-4.15].   Subsequent to my asking you about specific resonant frequencies and depths, I found that in 1998 NATO and the US Naval Undersea Warfare Center had already calculated the resonance frequency of airspaces in Cuvier beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) to be about 290 Hz at 500 meters depth (page H2, SACLANTCEN M-133), which is almost precisely the middle frequency of LFA (100-500 Hz) described in your OEIS/EIS! That information is quite important, with specific reference to Technical Report 3 of your DOEIS/EIS, wherein there are several citations of Navy sponsored studies that clearly demonstrated vestibular dysfunction (eg. dizziness, vertigo) and lung hemorrhage, etc. in laboratory animals exposed to LFA at their lung resonance frequency.   In other words, the Navy has sufficient information available to know there is at least theoretically a very serious problem to whales from LFA for even brief periods of time. The scientific and medical literature contains numerous examples of hemorrhagic injuries and death occurring in humans when they are inadvertently exposed to loud sound, particularly at their lung (airspace) resonance frequency. Undoubtedly such damage could also be demonstrated as occurring to whales if they could be tested and did not sink to the bottom of the ocean when they die.   The NATO report I referred to for resonance calculations was concerning the mass stranding of at least twelve Cuvier's beaked whales in Greece on 12 May, 1996 coincident with a NATO acoustic trial employing both LFA (450-700 Hz) and mid-frequency sonar (2.8-3.3 kHz). Superficially, in reading that report one might wonder whether either frequency range caused the whales to strand in Greece, since neither matched the reported resonance frequency in that instance for Cuvier's beaked whales airspaces at an arbitrarily chosen 500 meters depth.   However, also in that NATO report there were formulae of Minnaert and Andreeva presented that indicated the resonance frequency of airspaces can be calculated, within acceptable limits, from their volumes. Lung (airspace) volumes vary individually, and they also vary with depth, hence their resonance will vary accordingly. Nonetheless, the Navy used the formulae, and so did I. You could, too.   In order to perform these airspace resonance calculations correctly, one must know or take into account the following:   a. Boyles Law PV=3Dconstant; therefore, lung (airspace) volume will decrease with increasing depth due to increasing pressure.   b. Lung (airspace) volume at the surface.   c. Functional anatomy of deep-diving beaked whales.   It is the volume of air in the individual pterygoid sacs and the laryngeal airspace, not the lungs, for which resonance should be calculated. Below about 100 meters depth virtually all of the air that was in the lungs at the surface is forced into laryngeal and cranial airspaces, wherein its volume continues to decrease with increasing depth until it has a total volume less than that of a football (compressed from, for example, a 100 liter lung full of air). The two largest of these remaining airspaces (pterygoid sacs or sinuses) are bilaterally adjacent to the earbones and the base of the brain (via the large foramen for the oversize VIII cranial nerve); and, their diminishing volume at depth is compensated for by retia mirabilia (a corpus cavernosum-like vascular network extending to the middle ear). [Envision the football-size airspace further squeezed to the size of a ping-pong ball with 1500 psi air pressure, now tucked between the ear bulla and the skull on each side of the head, thinly separated from a bag of blood next to it on the soft side. Following the Navys example and the formulae of Minnaert and Andreeva, the frequencies of LFA (and powerful mid-frequency sonars) precisely match these cranial airspace resonance frequencies in these whales at predictable depths where they normally forage (500-1500 meters).   [Now envision rapidly compressing and decompressing the ping-pong ball many times per second (sound and sonar travels as compressions and decompressions of the medium through which it is passing) until ultimately the amplitude is exaggerated by resonance.]   The result is both astonishing and bloody. Many whales died due to this sonar resonance in Greece and in the Bahamas. Unfortunately, the Greek mass stranding incident passed into relative obscurity because the SACLANTCEN Bioacoustics Panel missed the crucial point of matching resonance in critical airspaces; and, because suitable specimen materials were not collected for discovering the problem. At least seven beaked whales died in the Bahamas stranding that witnessed; and, I had opportunity to examine four of the carcasses by necropsy.   All of these whales that were examined evidenced similar lesions, i.e. hemorrhage in the acoustic regions of the cranium and mandible and in tissues adjacent to airspaces around the earbones (NMFS ltr. June 14, 2000). One fresh specimen that was examined by ultra high-resolution computerized tomography (UHR-CT) evidenced a subarachnoid hemorrhage (brain hemorrhage) with a direct path to the ear hemorrhage. This same specimen evidenced lung hemorrhage and laryngeal hemorrhage upon dissection. These hemorrhages are of the type of damage reported in laboratory animals exposed to LFA at lung resonance frequency, and they strongly corroborate the theoretical explanation of such injuries in these whales. In order to approach this problem empirically, prepared an endocast of the pterygoid sac of one of the Cuvier's beaked whale specimens from the Bahamas incident and determined that its volume closely matched the calculated volume used for the resonance formulae beginning around 170 meters depth where it would resonate at 470-590 Hz (within LFA range).   At greater depths the resonance frequency of this pterygoid sac would increase to around 3.5 kHz at 1400 meters.   Because most of the hemorrhage observed was in tissues adjacent to the pterygoid sac at its most posterior end where it is enveloped by retia mirabilia in a unique cul-de-sac of sesamoid bone and dense earbone that keep this space open during the deepest part of a dive, consider the evidence compelling that resonance of this particular airspace is a real problem.   Again with respect to the Bahamas incident, have read (Pirie ltr.) that the sonars employed were standard hull mounted and operating at 3.5 kHz @ 235 dB re 1µPa SL and 7.5 kHz @ 235 dB re 1µPa SL. What is important, of course, is the received level (RL) of these projected frequencies at the whales receiving location when first impacted by the sound. I have been told that the Bahamas situation may have been complicated by oceanographic conditions and other factors that could have resulted in a surface sound duct in which most of the acoustic energy was trapped; but, I also documented that the whales stranded over an area 200 kilometers across! In this case, if the Navy report of several surface ships using standard, hull-mounted sonar operating within normal mid-range frequencies, power outputs, and duty cycles is true; and, if within a range of 1000 meters from the ship in this surface duct, the sound level from the sonars dropped in intensity to less than 180 dB is also true; then, it is not possible that all of the whales that stranded over such a huge area experienced received levels (RL) of these sonars above the alleged safe limit of 180 dB (not enough ships; too large an area). I conclude that the whales in the Bahamas incident were adversely and lethally impacted by sonar pings at received levels well below the 180 dB re 1uPa considered safe for whales, and this was due to the aforementioned resonance problem. These pings were of much shorter duration (1/10th second) than the proposed LFA pings, I might add. This sonar impact at received levels well below 180 dB is likewise well documented in the Greek incident reported in the NATO report SACLANTCEN M-133 (Annex G). The first whale to strand did so 40 km from the ship one hour after the acoustic trial commenced. If one takes into account how fast a beaked whale can swim (about 15 km per hour, maximum), it must have been at least 25 km from the ship when the first of its 238 four-second pings was transmitted! At that distance the RL was calculated by the Navy (NATO, Annex G) to be approximately 150 dB! The Bioacoustics Panel overlooked this important bit of evidence of received level for impact.   Therefore, based on two significant mass mortality events (Greece and the Bahamas) the body of evidence indicates that not only is resonance with LFA and sonar frequencies a problem for beaked whales, the sound pressure level of 180 dB RL is demonstrably not safe, and it is probably not safe for other cetaceans (two minke whales and a dolphin also stranded in the Bahamas incident). Aversion and/or physiological damage evidently and repeatedly occurs in beaked whales at levels of somewhere between 150 and 180 dB RL (probably nearer the former) of either low frequency or mid-frequency sonar signals in the whales normal habitat.   Clearly, the impact of high-powered rapid-rise acoustic energy (such as sonar), particularly at airspace resonance frequency, on these animals is occurring at significant distances well beyond the current mitigation distance (1-2.2 km) used by the Navy. These impact distances can be easily calculated, and they are more like 20 to 100 kilometers, and more well over the horizon of shipboard observers.   Cuvier's beaked whales were reasonably common in our field study area prior to the Bahamas incident; we had photo-identified about thirty-five of them, many repeatedly. We typically sighted small groups of these whales a dozen or more times per year in any month of the year. But since the Bahamas sonar incident we have seen this species only once in an entire year, and that was a sighting of two previously unidentified whales (i.e., new arrivals to our study area) about two months after the sonar exercise. None of the whales that were rescued have been seen again. In retrospect, it is probable that all Cuviers beaked whales in the region when the naval exercise commenced were killed by the sonar, whether or not they were returned to sea by well-wishers pushing them off the shore. Considering the observed damage to the whales that stranded and died, and the short time period between stranding and death, the NMFS statement that the whales died from stranding is patently absurd. The whales that we observed swimming toward shore and stranding were only temporary survivors of an acoustic holocaust that can be likened to fishing with dynamite.   In summary, I consider the Navy's Final OEIS/EIS fails to justify the deployment of SURTASS/LFA with negligible or mitigable potential to harm marine mammals, therefore I recommend the No Action Alternative. In fact, there really is no Alternative 1- the Navy cannot reasonably mitigate the problem using visual, active acoustic or passive acoustic monitoring, nor can the Navy redesign the whales; at best it can only reconsider and perhaps redesign the SURTASS/LFA system. Considering that the facts of multiple whale deaths and their almost certain cause are now known to me, I cannot legally or morally support any recommendation to deploy SURTASS/LFA as proposed, and I trust that will be your conclusion as well.   Sincerely,   Kenneth C. Balcomb, III Whale Biologist   Cc: Office of Protected Species, NMFS CNO OP95 US Marine Mammal Commission   Appendix II. Sources and References about the likely harm from LFAS   The scientific reasoning behind the Navy's conclusions in their Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that Low Frequency Active Sonar (LFAS) is safe are scientifically flawed for several reasons:   The Navy's Scientific Research program never tested the full source level of LFAS on marine mammals. In the Hawaii Quicklook, written by the marine mammal scientists who conducted the testing, they say on page 5, "This research did not use the full source level of LFA." On page 6 they say, "The playback protocol used in this Phase III research was specifically designed to expose animals to LFA sounds at levels that are not harmful." In the Executive Summary on page vi they say, "& it will be difficult to extrapolate from these results to predict responses at higher exposure levels."   The Navy has failed to follow the advice of their own hired scientists and has wrongfully extrapolated to conclude that LFAS is safe to deploy at levels of at least 5,000 times more acoustic intensity and 70 times more pressure than test levels.   Even at the lower LFAS test levels a number of negative effects were documented including inshore gray whales changing their migration route, blue and fin whales decreasing their vocalization by 50 and 30% respectively, humpback whales leaving the test area, humpback whales changing the length of their song and three abandoned Cetacean calves appearing in the test area in Hawaii during and right after testing. According to the precautionary principle, these observations should have been heeded as warning signs. Instead they were ignored or dismissed as biologically insignificant.   Published accounts of whale strandings correlated with Naval maneuvers (Nature 1991 and 1998) suggest that beaked whales are especially vulnerable to high intensity sonar. However, beaked whales were excluded in LFAS testing. In fact every recorded multi species stranding involving beaked whales has been correlated with Naval maneuvers nearby.   LFAS was tested at low levels on only four species of whales for about one month each. Consequently, we know virtually nothing about what impact the higher, deployment level sonar will have on marine life and humans over the long term.   The Navy's research has focused on LFAS damaging hearing in Cetaceans. However, evidence now indicates that the damage from high intensity sonar is due mainly to resonance phenomena in the whales' cranial air spaces that tear apart delicate tissues around their brains and ears. Necropsies show that this is what caused the death of the whales in the Bahamas stranding in March 2000. The Navy has known the resonance frequency of airspaces in Cuvier's beaked whales since 1998.   The Navy ignores widely accepted research showing that whales change their behavior and show avoidance at about 115-120 dB. (Marine Mammals and Noise, 1995) In fact, they have consistently attempted to increase the scientifically accepted level at which whales change their behavior in response to noise in the absence of research to substantiate the increase.     Alternative Technology   According to the Navy, LFAS will be used to detect enemy submarines. We now know that the Navy has developed passive sonar systems that can detect silent submarines and hardly harm marine life.   This was noted in a statement of RADM Malcolm I Fages, U.S. Navy Director, Submarine Warfare Division Office of the Chief Of Naval Operations (N87) and RADM J. P. Davis, U.S. Navy Program Executive Office for Submarines before the House Armed Services Committee Military Procurement Subcommittee on Submarine Force Structure and Modernization 27 June 2000:   Admiral Fages said in direct testimony that the Navy now has the ability to detect quiet submarines in littoral waters using passive listening systems, at considerable distances.   "Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS) Twin Line operations in 1998 and 1999 demonstrated the ability to detect advanced diesel submarines at substantial ranges in the littoral environment where contact was previously thought to be "unobtainable" by the operational commander& This use of COTS equipment has also resulted in substantially reduced costs with no reduction in fielded capability. Development of the new Advanced Deployable System (ADS) will provide a rapidly deployable acoustic array installed on the ocean floor that provides littoral undersea wide-area surveillance and real time cueing. ADS development is moving along smoothly with potential for accelerated capability development."   From an environmental standpoint, by using the safe, passive detection systems, and shutting down the acoustically hazardous LFAS system, the Navy can fulfill its mission for national security and be stewards of the seas.   While stopping the deployment of LFAS will protect marine life, it will still have to address harmful impacts from conventional Navy sonar as witnessed in the whale stranding and deaths in the Bahamas in March, 2000. However, it would be environmentally and fiscally sound to halt production of acoustically hazardous and tactically questionable LFAS.     Specific References   The scientific literature consistently states that whales move away from sounds at 115-120 dB: Richardson, W.J., Greene, C.R., Malme, C.I. and Thomson D.H., (1995) Marine Mammals and Noise. Academic Press.   2. Sperm whales stopped vocalizing in response to a seismic vessel hundreds of kilometers away: Bowles, A.E., Smultea, M.,Wursig, B., DeMaster, P. and Plaka, D. (1994) Abundance of marine mammals exposed to transmissions from Heard Island Feasibility Test, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 96; 2469-2484.   3. Studied reactions of humpback whales in response to explosions and drilling off Newfoundland. Their data revealed only small changes in residency, movements and general behavior. However, two humpback whales trapped in fishing gear after the explosions were found to have severely damaged ear structures similar to blast injury in humans. They noted that the whales showed no dramatic behavioral reaction to these harmful sounds and cautioned that whales' visible short-term reactions to loud sounds may fail to be a valid measure of the degree of impact of the sound on them: Lien, J., Todd S., Stevick, P., Marques, F. and Ketten, D. (1993) The reaction of humpback whales to explosives; Orientation, movements and behavior. 126th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 94: 1849.   4. Bowhead whales react to a received level of 115 dB. Noted behavioral changes in bowhead whales more than 8 km from seismic vessels with received noise levels of 142-156 dB: Ljungblad, D.K., Wursig, B., Swartz,.S.L. and Keene, J.M. (1988) Observations on the behavioral responses of bowhead whales (Balacena mysticetus) to active geophysical vessels in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. Artic 41: 183-194.   5. Several studies show that gray whales begin to avoid sounds at exposure levels of 110 dB and more than 80% of the whales showed avoidance to sounds at 130 dB. Ninety percent of the whales avoided airgun pulses at 180 dB. Typically whales slowed down and moved around the sound source. At times they moved into the shallow surf zone to avoid the noise, respiration rates increased and there were indications that mother-calf pairs were more sensitive to the noise than other whales: Malme, C.I., Miles, P.R., Clark, C.W., Tyak, P. and Bird, J.E.. (1983) Investigations of the potential effects of underwater noise from petroleum industry activities on migrating gray whale behavior. BBN Report 5366, Report from Bolt Beranek & Newman Inc., Cambridge, MA for US Minerals Management Service, Anchorage, AK, NTIS PB86-174174.   Malme, C.I., Miles, P.R., Clark, C.W., Tyak, P. and Bird, J.E.. (1983) Investigations of the potential effects of underwater noise from petroleum industry activities on migrating gray whale behavior/Phase II: January 1984 migration. BBN Report 5851, Report from BBN Laboratories Inc., Cambridge, MA for US Minerals Management Service, Anchorage, AK, NTIS PB86-218385.   Malme, C.I., Miles, Wursig, B., Bird, J.E. and Tyack, P. (1986) Behavioral responses of gray whales to industrial noise: Feeding observations and predictive modeling. BBN Report 6265, Report from BBN Laboratories Inc.. Cambridge, MA for US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and US Minerals Management Service, Anchorage, AK.   Malme, C.I., Miles, Wursig, B., Bird, J.E. and Tyack, P. (1988) Observations of feeding gray whale responses to controlled industrial noise exposure. In: Sackinger, W.M. et al. (Eds) Port and Ocean Engineering Under Arctic Conditions. Volumn II. University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, Geophys. Inst.   Malme, C.L Miles, P.R., Miller, G.W., Richardson, W.J., Roseneau, D.G., Thomson, K.H., and Green, C.R., (1989) Analysis and ranking of acoustic disturbance potential of petroleum industry activities and other sources of noise in the environment of marine mammals in Alaska. BBN Report 6945, OCS Study MMS 98-0006, Report from BBN Systems & Technological Corporation, Cambridge, MA, for US Minerals Management Service, Anchorage, AK, NTIS PB90-188673.   6. Humpback whales showed avoidance when sonar was played back to them: Maybaum, H.L., (1989) Effects of 3.3 kHz sonar system on humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, in Hawaiian waters. Eos 71:92.   7. After WWII the Norwegians used sonar to hunt whales because they found the sonar frightened especially baleen whales and caused a predictable flight response making them easier to catch: Mitchell, E. Blaylock, G. and Kozicki, V.M., (1981) Modifiers of effort in whaling operations: with a survey of anecdotal sources on searching tactics and the use of asdic in the chase. Center for Environmental Education Monograph Series, Center for Environmental Education, Inc., 1925 K Street NW, Washington, DC.   8. Loud underwater sounds also, of course, affect fish and other marine life. Studies show harmful effects of even moderate noise on hearing in fish and the viability of fish eggs exposed to noisy environments was significantly reduced: Myrberg, A.A..(1990) The effects of Man-Made Noise on the Behavior of Marine Animals. Environment International 16: 575-586.   9. While Cetaceans show avoidance behavior to sounds starting around 115 dB, more intense sounds can cause physiological damage. Noise can mask biologically important signals. This article suggests that if baleen whales show low auditory thresholds for low frequency sounds, then sound levels of 195-210 dB might result in immediate damage to their auditory organs: Richardson, W.J., Green, C,R., Malme, C.I., Thompson, D. H., Moore, S.E. and Wurwig, B. (1991) Effects of noise on marine mammals. Report prepared by LGL Ecological Research Associates Inc., TX, for US Minerals Management Service, Atlantic OCS Region, Herndon, VA, MMS Study 90-0093, NTIS PB 91-168914, 462 pp.   10. In their chapter "Underwater Noise Pollution and its Significance for Whales and Dolphins", Jonathan Gordon and Anna Moscrop state that shock waves caused by intense underwater sound sources can cause direct tissue damage. Animals with air filled lungs and swim bladders are especially vulnerable because of the large difference in impedance between air in the lungs and their body tissues or sea water. Submerged animals exposed to explosions at short range showed hemorrhage in the lungs and ulceration of the gastro-intestinal tract. Simmonds, M.P. and Hutchinson, J.D. (1996) The Conservation of Whales and Dolphins. John Wiley & Sons.   11. Sperm whales became silent, stopped their activities and scattered in response to military sonar signals: Watkins, W.A., Moore, K.E., and Tyack, P. (1985) Sperm whale acoustic behaviors in the Southeast Caribbean. Cetology 19:1-15.   12. From Sounding the Depths by Michael Jasney, page 38, " The National Environmental Policy Act demands that the Navy 'rigorously explore and objectively evaluate all reasonable alternatives'--a duty that lies, in the words of the regulators, at 'the heart' of the entire assessment process. In this light, mere proclamations of national security are too little. It is necessary to establish that LFA, which was initially designed to face the deep-sea Soviet threat, actually meets the needs of the post-Cold War world. Doubts persist over the program's utility, and more than merely among conservationists, but in such neutral quarters as the General Accounting Office and Jane's Defense Weekly. At least one military contractor has recommended that the Navy stick to passive sonar even in combat, since active sonar could serve as a beacon, attracting enemy fire. And indeed a less intrusive, passive sonar program that would deal expressly with the coastal threat - Advanced Deployable Systems - is ready for testing. Even as the Navy pushes forward on LFA, with NATO at its heels, the potential of this program (or others) to serve as the more 'reasonable alternative' contemplated by Congress has yet, to our knowledge, been addressed. Under the circumstances, NRDC has opposed, and continues to oppose, the deployment of LFA." Jasney, M. (1999) Sounding the Depths; Supertankers, Sonar and the Rise of Undersea Noise. Natural Resources Defense Council. Los Angeles, CA.   13. Alexandros Frantzis linked a stranding of Cuvier's beaked whales in the Mediterranean to military low frequency active (LFA) sonar trials the day before. Cuvier's beaked whales rarely strand. A Bioacoustics Panel investigated this stranding and it is clear that the NATO vessel transmitting the LFA sonar came within 10 km of the beach where the whales stranded. The panel concluded these whales were exposed to LFA sonar at 150-160 dB. Frantzis, A. (1998) Does acoustic testing strand whales? Nature 392:29.   14. Noted the association between three other strandings of whales (including two pygmy sperm whales, a bottle-nosed whale and eighteen beaked whales) in the Canary Islands in 1985, 1988 and 1989 and the times at which naval fleets had been visibly operating in the area close to stranding sites: Simmonds, M.P. and Lopez-Jurado, L.F. (1991) Whales and the Military. Nature 351:448.   In their annual report to Congress (Jan.31, 1998) the Marine Mammal Commission stated, "If the LFA system were made available for worldwide use as proposed, all species and populations of marine mammals including those listed as endangered and threatened under the Endangered Species Act possibly could be affected." This report continues to explain that the possible effects on marine mammals could include: death from trauma, hearing loss, disruption of feeding, suckling, sensing and communication, abandonment of traditional feeding and breeding habitants stress (making animals more vulnerable to disease and predation), changes in distribution and abundance of important marine mammal prey species, subsequent decreases in marine mammal survival and productivity   16. The Navy has funded much of the research done in large universities in the U.S. on the effects of sound on marine mammals. In 1995 Marine Mammal Science (published by the Society for Marine Mammalogy) published scientific correspondence entitled, "Marine Mammal Science, The US Navy and Academic Freedom." This correspondence discusses the reluctance of US marine mammal scientists to criticize two previous US Navy acoustic projects, Shipshock and ATOC. The authors state that, "Almost all prominent US marine mammal scientists with expertise in acoustics were involved in ATOC." (ATOC was transmitted at about 190 dB, LFAS will be transmitted at 235 dB). The authors go on to say, "the current structure of marine mammal science in the US, where Navy and other defense related agencies fund a large proportion of medium-large projects (especially those involving underwater acoustics) effectively restricts academic freedom & it is disturbing when any agency with a principal mandate unrelated to science funds a large proportion of the research in any field." Whitehead, H.and Weilgart, L. (1995) Marine mammal science, the US Navy and academic freedom. Marine Mammal Science 11: 260-263.   In a report submitted to National Marine Fisheries Service in March, 1998 on the impact of engine noise on the Hawaiian humpback whale, researchers at the Ocean Mammal Institute found that whales swim 2 to 3 times faster away from engines of 120 dB than they do around quieter engines. Research by the Ocean Mammal Institute also shows that the presence of a boat up to ½ mile away significantly changes the behavior of humpback whales.   Ken Balcomb, a marine mammal scientist doing research in the Bahamas, sent a letter to the LFAS Program Manager in February, 2001 stating that in the year following the Bahamas stranding, March 2001, he has not seen any of the photo-identified beaked whales he normally saw in the area. In fact, he has seen only two beaked whales since March and they were individuals he had never seen before. He believes they were new to the area. He concludes, "it is probable that all Cuvier's beaked whales in the region when the naval exercise commenced were killed by the sonar." Letter dated February 23, 2001 to Mr. J.S. Johnson       Appendix III. The Cetacea Nation     From what has been shared here and our personal experiences show that the Cetacea are quite intelligent, conscious and sentient, with their own language and the ability to use artificially created codes for communication. Lilly showed that dolphins imitate human speech and lower the frequencies they use to our range, apparently in clear attempts to communicate with us. When we realize the potential benefit to the Human race when our loving partnership with the Cetacea is fully re-established. we know they must be respected, honored and preserved for future generations.   Sir Arthur C. Clarke once wrote that the super-intelligent machine was the last invention that one would need to make. Here we have the Cetacea using brains comparable to or larger than ours and up to six times larger, for 30 to 15 million years. A partnership with the Cetacea is equivalent to the invention of a super-intelligent machine, with similar profound implications.   Recent articles now attribute cultural transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next to the Cetacea. And just last week, I learned that some Bowhead whales are at least 200 years old, the longest life spans known. Just consider the depth of knowledge accumulated over eons of two century life spans by the some 100 species of Cetacea. For those of us who have met them, and want to live with them and learn, there are many possibilities.   Yet as I write, there are whalers wishing to expand their operations, Japan killed Sperm whales this season, and the Navy and NATO are testing sound sources that have harmed and killed whales and dolphins in the Mediterranean and the Bahamas and further testing is planned for the Azores, and around the US and Hawai'i. Thousands of dolphins are killed each year and the great whales have already been reduced to some 1% of their pre-whaling populations.   This must stop. There has to be an overall change of heart that will be accelerated when people are educated to appreciate our seas and their occupants. There are hopeful signs with Australia and Ireland proposing whale sanctuaries..   Some 80% of the American people want protection for the whales and dolphins. Their popularity increases, with just the whale watching industry bringing in about $400 million a year or more. So there is hope.   Dr. John C. Lilly proposed that the Cetacea gain recognition under human laws. To this end, Lilly, Roberta Quist Goodman and Michael Bailey drafted the first Cetacean Nation (now the Cetacea Nation) proposals about 10 years ago. Recently, Paradise Newland, Napier Marten and myself presented ourselves as ambassadors of the Cetacea Nation at the Reinstated Lawful Government of Hawai'i's Constitutional Convention in Waimea, Hawai'i. We spoke to the assembled body and presented a proposed amendment to their Constitution that proclaimed full rights for the Cetaceans as citizens of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. To our knowledge, this is the first presentation of the Cetacean Nation at a national level. We will continue our quest for the recognition of the Cetacea as a people under the Law of Nations. A description of the presentation follows. We have these presentations on video, and will present them at the NMFS public hearing on LFAS. We have yet to have transcripts of our verbal presentations.   **Applause! **   An important milestone was passed in the protocol process of the Cetacean Nation gaining recognition from the United Nations. This past weekend, a devout group here in Hawaii, Michael Hyson, Paradise Newland and Napier Marten, appeared before the legislative body for the Sovereignty Movement and submitted a constitutional article for consideration to be placed into the written bylaws of the reinstated, Lawful Hawaiian Government. Congratulations to everyone involved in the support of this project, for lending their time and energy along with their passion and commitment to further the cause of gaining sovereignty recognition for the Cetacean Nation. Now it's a matter of public record and complies with the first and second of the seven-step proposal for international recognition by the UN. Every little piece combines to make the whole synergistic system come alive. Nice going dolphinpeeps! - We wrote a proposed amendment to their Constitution, suggesting the recognition of the Cetacea as a People, with the rights of Citizens. Paradise read the following document, written by Michael Hyson, Ph.D., to the assembled body:     Appendix IV. Proposed Amendment to the Constitution                         of the Lawful Hawaiian Government     Article I. The Rights of Citizens Section 4. Recognition of the Cetacea as a Sovereign People - the Cetacea Nation   a) Whereas the Kingdom of Hawai'I resides in a unique sacred region of land and sea; and whereas we recognize both our dominion and stewardship of our precious environment, whose sustenance and wellbeing are fundamental to the manifestation of all the rights of the people of Hawai'I previously stated; therefore, all effects of our actions on our Kingdom and environment will be wisely considered out to the seventh generation to insure the continued wellbeing of our 'aina and waters.   b) Whereas the Cetacea (whales and dolphins) are an ancient race of intelligent, sentient beings, who have been the friends and helpers of mankind for millennia, we hereby accord to the Cetacea the status of a Sovereign People as the Cetacean Nation, whose citizens are, therefore, entitled to the same rights as are accorded our own citizens, as honored guests of the Kingdom of Hawai'I, when residing in our waters. Henceforth, the Kingdom of Hawai'I recognizes the Cetacean Nation, and its right to enter into treaties, establish embassies, appoint ambassadors, and, in short, perform all activities of a Sovereign Nation.   c) The Kingdom of Hawai'I hereby establishes diplomatic relations with the Cetacean Nation through their appointed representatives, both human and Cetacean, and through direct communications with the Cetacean citizens themselves, and will enter into treaties and perform other actions as deemed necessary to the recognition of the Cetacea as a People and a Nation.   d) We extend our Aloha to the Cetacean Nation. The rights to liberty and life in a clean environment of all living Cetacea will be held sacred; their rights to travel, their right to free assembly, and their right to practice their cultures freely in Hawai'ian waters, will be honored.   e) The Kingdom of Hawai'I will be a friend and ally of the Cetacean Nation and support the extension of their rights to all waters of the Earth, and in the halls of Mankind everywhere, for all time.   f) We reserve the right to extend similar rights to other peoples as well as the right to promulgate other measures to assure the wellbeing of our environment and our right relationship with it, as the need may arise.   **********************************       Our Podner, Napier had recently returned from Australia. While there, Napier participated in an initiation where Right Whales were called using digeridoo's. The whales came and danced before the Nulaboor cliffs for hours!   After the ceremony, the Miring people of south central Australia presented Napier with a pale green worked stone from one of their sacred sites, which is 100,000 to 120,000 years old, and shaped like the island of Hawai'I.   As part of the presentation that Paradise Newland, Napier, and myself made on behalf of the Cetacean Nation, Napier.gave the stone as a gift from the Cetacean Nation to the Hawaiian Nation, to then acting Monarch of Hawai'I, John Kekoa Lake. Thus the oldest people from the oldest land gave a sacred gift to the newest nation residing on the newest land of Hawai'i. As Napier said "Now I know why I am here and what the last six years of my life has meant." This is the first time, as far as we are aware, where the Cetacean Nation participated at a National level.   This is a beginning of the recognition of the Cetacea as sentient beings under human laws.     Appendix V.  Proclamation of a Sustainable, Alternate                         Energy, Child Centered, Human/                         Cetacean Community in Puna   (As presented to the Planning Commission of the County of Hawaii)   WHEREAS Puna was traditionally a place people came for restoration and healing, for education, and to learn about and gather medicinal plants, and as such is one of the most sacred areas of Hawai'i (originally Hawaiki "the little storage house of the breath") and   WHEREAS the Puna area contains the only tropical rainforest in the United States, the natural areas and species here are precious and pristine and   WHEREAS this region is home to many unique, threatened and endangered species including the 'A'o bird, the Pueo, 'I'o Hawk, the Hoary Bat (Hawai'i's only native mammal), along with dolphins, whales, and Monk seals and many rare plants and   WHEREAS this beautiful natural treasure hosts a beach where dolphins and whales come regularly to feed, rest, birth their children, which is a rare and wonderful event happening in only a few areas of the entire planet, and   WHEREAS years of work by the Sirius Institute and many others have resulted in a clear and present opportunity to open full objective communication with the Cetaceans (whales and dolphins) and inter-species concerts at this site and initiate other worthy projects that will integrate Cetacean and human culture, and use current technologies to raise and educate children optimally and   WHEREAS scientific reports and anecdotes and other experiences show that the Cetacea are able to restore the wholeness, sanity and joy of humans, have assisted in the birth and restoration of children, and have been a delight to humanity across many ages and cultures, and   WHEREAS the growing interest in Cetaceans has led to whale watching and other enterprises are already generating $350,000,000/year to the global economy, (about half that spent by Japanese alone) and   WHEREAS the Puna area is ideal for the development of these and similar projects that will bring new and wonderful developments of interest globally, to Hawai'i, and   WHEREAS the surrounding culture of Puna and the Red Road has been alternative powered for 25 years and is inhabited by Earth-loving people who support and honor all creatures of the area, and   WHEREAS only the use of sustainable and planet friendly technology will preserve and enhance this area while maintaining the Paradise it already is, and   WHEREAS the City of Malibu, California has already declared its coastline a "shared human/Cetacean habitat" where the rights of the Cetaceans and the humans to a clean environment and proper treatment are already established, and   WHEREAS dolphin researcher Dr. John Lilly and others have proposed that the United Nations at last recognize the Cetaceans as aware, intelligent, sentient beings entitled to our global protection and respect and who are entitled to the same rights and privileges as are human beings, and   WHEREAS the accomplishment of these goals will provide a model for planet friendly communities everywhere, where people, Cetaceans, the Earth and nature are all honored,   THEREFORE we declare that Puna is a now officially recognized as a Sustainable, Alternate Energy, Child-Centered, Human/Cetacean Community and   THAT the Kehena Beach area is a Cetacean Embassy where there is sanctuary and an official embassy for the various species of Cetacean cultures and the humans that choose to interact and live with them, and further,   THAT existing laws at any level of government that might retard or prevent such a development be changed and/or eliminated, and that existing laws protecting our coasts, cultures, creatures and plants be properly administered, and that other legislation required to support the above goals be enacted.   WITH THIS PROCLAMATION we move to an era of abundance, knowledge and high adventure, bringing the finest we have to this challenge.       Appendix VI.   The Dolphin-Assisted Brain                       Trauma Healing Study   The field of dolphin assisted therapy is a growing one, with an increasing number of dolphin interaction and "healing" places coming online. At the moment, dolphins helping people is considered "alternative medicine".   What is needed is to make the dolphins more available to people, and to collect fair-witness accounts of what happens between us and the dolphins, with medical documentation where possible or practicable. We intend to do this.   Our hypothesis is that dolphins, by use of their sonic and perhaps other electromagnetic outputs can change the physiology and structure of the human body, and may effect improvements in a wide variety of brain traumas. This question is worthy of careful investigation.   We propose to study this matter. We will observe and measure what happens and see if there are observable change and improvement.   There is good reason to suppose that dolphins can indeed aid us in our restoration of a wide variety of medical and psychological conditions, including brain injuries and brain trauma. This supposition is supported by a growing number of studies. One of the finest works on dolphin assisted therapies is that of Steven Birch, Ph.D., Bioelectronics Group, Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering of Monash University, Australia. To quote the abstract of his thesis on "Dolphin-Human Interaction Effects" (1997):   "Dolphin assisted therapeutic effects include alleviation of pain in spinal patients, improved learning in neurologically impaired children and alleviation of depression." Some of these effects are specifically neurological, for example: "Following dolphin contact, noticeable changes in subject EEG activity are observed. These are characterized by a decrease in frequency and an increase in amplitude, with some evidence of hemispheric synchronization. In this study, 85% of subjects displayed these modifications following dolphin contact, these findings correlate with findings by other research groups. A hormonal mechanism has been postulated ... which cause[s] analgesia, improved learning and potentiate[s] psychological self-reward mechanisms."   Dolphin interaction has reportedly improved a wide variety of conditions including cerebral palsy, autism, joint and neck problems and Down's syndrome. These reports, coupled with Dr. Birch's study suggest that brain traumas may be improved through dolphin interaction. Two other reports are directly relevant to our study of brain trauma:   The first was reported on NBC's "The Other Side". A fellow with a head injury was swimming with the free spinner dolphins off Kauai. The injury had given him tunnel vision. While he was in the water, he felt and heard the dolphins sonaring him, and while in the water, his peripheral vision returned, revealing some 30 dolphins all around him. At minimum, the dolphins might have corrected an ischemic blood flow reduction (this is speculation).   In another case, reported at the Second International Conference on Dolphin Assisted Therapy, concerned a baby with microcephaly, where the skull plates grow in the wrong curve and fail to form sufficient skull volume to contain the brain. As far as I am aware, we have zero effective knowledge on how to correct this condition.   The baby was brought to the dolphins and supported on the back in the water. Two dolphins put their rostrums at each side of the neck, one at the medulla and one at the base of the spine. They ensonified the baby for some 20 minutes at a time, over several days. It is reported that after this, the skull plates were developing normally.   This suggests that the dolphins are capable of profoundly benefiting even severe conditions, and in some cases, where we have little to offer by any extant medical system. Ideally, for the study, we will have a boat, with proper recording gear, hydrophones, DAT recorders, video, heart rate, blood pressure, EEG, EKG, evoked response, done with 14 or more electrodes so that we can map the surface activity of the brain before and after interaction. Other appropriate measurements will be done to access the effects of dolphin interaction on particular conditions.   Measurements taken prior to and after dolphin interaction, will be compared to access any changes observed to the condition under study.   The results will be published and distributed. We hope to make a contribution to our understanding of what effects dolphins can have on people, and perhaps inaugurate a new era of medicine in full partnership with the dolphins.   Should our study succeed in showing that a brain condition that is beyond help, using our current techniques, is restored by interaction with the dolphins, the implications are vast. Sirius Institute and its podners are honored to assist in this wonderful project.     Sincerely yours, in the Spirit of Aloha,   Michael T. Hyson, Ph.D. October 23, 1999         Appendix VII. The Aquatic Ape Story by Michael Hyson     There is a 6.5 million year gap in the human fossil record, during which time, we evolved many of our human characteristics, such as upright gait and a large brain. How did this occur? A British biologist, Sir Allister Hardy, noted this gap [between our swamp dwelling Bonobo chimpanzee-like forebearers, and the next fossils of Homo erectus] and our evident adaptations to water, and suggested part of our evolution occurred in a watery environment. Elaine Morgan, in her books, The Ascent of Woman (a pun on Darwin's The Descent of Man) and The Aquatic Ape, notes that humans have little hair, like other marine mammals, like the Cetacea, (dolphins and whales), walruses, manatees, dugongs, and even elephants (who have been seen swimming some 25 miles at sea crossing between islands). We have noses that trap air and allow us to swim and dive, subcutaneous fat, salt tears and other characteristics of marine animals -- including a large brain. The largest brains belong to the Cetacea. There is also the fact that we are among the few primates that swim at all! Until recently, all this was mostly speculation. Now we know that in addition to the above features, we must have enough eicosanoic acid (a 20 carbon oil) for proper brain and body development. While 2% of the population can make enough of this oil, 98%of us MUST have it supplied by the diet. The ONLY source of this oil is fish and seafood. People in the Faroe Islands that eat a lot of fish have the healthiest babies -- Dr. Michel Odent has demonstrated that the omega 3 and omega 6 and eicosanoic oils are especially required during fetal development. These oils are so crucial that the fetus will take what it needs from the mother -- sometimes leading to a formerly puzzling disease of pregnant mothers called pre-eclampsia. Pioneers like Dr. Michel Odent, M.D., Igor Tcharkofsky, Gowri Motha, M.D., and Estelle Meyers have shown us that babies can be born underwater. Many women now choose this gentle and easier delivery method for their babies, and find it joyful. Both mother and baby are happy and smiling during the birth. And the babies born in water and raised in it and around it develop 6 months faster over their first two years and have about 150 grams more brain weight. It is my hunch that along with our aquatic nature, we have also been close to the dolphins for centuries. They still feed tribes in Africa, along the Amazon and in Australia -- by chasing fish into the nets. They have guided our ships, rescued people from drowning and generally been a loving companion to humans throughout history. I feel we are co-species -- that we have lived together and helped each other for a long time. Now, the dolphins are showing us that they can even assist in underwater births. And with their high power, high frequency sounds, and their friendship and love, they have helped restore wellbeing in cases of autism, cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome, head, neck and joint troubles and perhaps other conditions as well. So now we know many missing links in our evolution. We are aquatic creatures, and the dolphins have often been our companions in the sea. This new knowledge of our origins will lead to greater appreciation for our water connections, the value of gentle water birth, and a new point of view on our companions, the dolphins and whales -- marine mammals like ourselves ... Aloha Dr. Michael T. Hyson Sirius Institute     Appendix VIII: TELEPATHY'S GIFT by Paradise Newland     To share with you about telepathy is to open up a very deep part of myself for it is about my journey of coming home. Imagine as I (we all?) did the feeling of being alone on this world, away from my (our) own kind, wondering what happened to a life that held so much promise yet was sad, hearing stories about how the universe was a random place and that we were most likely to be alone in all the vastness of creation. And that God was outside of me. Somehow I had accepted the illusion of separation. I bought it, felt it, lived it and wondered what was hurting so much. I felt very cut off from other life, my own life and vitality. And on it went. Years later, in retrospect I realize what a gift the first telepathic contact was for me. It changed my life forever. I was at a marine park in Florida and after my first show watching the dolphins perform, went over to watch them in their pens - to get close to them for the first time in this life. My heart was so excited to see the dolphins. Little did I realize then how much my life would change because of them, how much joy I would finally come to know through them, how the world would be changed because of who they are to me/us and I to them. Then, much to my delight and amazement, one of them picked up a ball and threw it to me to play catch with it. I did and on and on the game went and other dolphins joined in. I was so excited for somewhere I knew the dolphin knew me, remembered me, reached in and touched me and reminded me that we are in this together. And Somewhere deep inside I could finally breathe. I had been touched. Somehow this day, this group of dolphins reached into my aloneness, found me and brought me back home with them. Where I was one with many/ all. In this way is how I wish to share with you about telepathy, what it means to us as individuals, as pod, as group consciousness, as cosmic consciousness. Connectivity and telepathy work because of each other, or through each other. Why I was so touched through my dolphin interaction is because I was touched inside, in my heart. I felt the intention that this invitation to play ball was for me. That they knew who I was. I felt clearly connected to them. My whole being was in a state of delight to finally meet these wonderful ones who would awaken me and inspire me to go on and co*create a beautiful new world with all of us. As I write this piece, every so often tears come as I am reminded of how thankful I am for telepathy, for connectivity. For through this I came to know that we are all one, that love calls us to be together in this time/space for the birth of a new world, created in love with our kin, dolphins and whales and all life really. And, the use of telepathy and the awareness of connectivity enables us all to facilitate this transition we are undertaking. Telepathy can be finely focused as in picking up/sending one thought through to wide range picking up fields of consciousness. It is a continuum which includes telempathy (receiving feelings/sending feelings). And it extends to cosmic consciousness where it interacts with all of creation. Because we are all connected what we experience, think, feel, know is part of everything. We influence everything because we are part of everything. When we think loving thoughts, feel loving feelings we are touching all of creation with love. When we have our intention to send love to a specific person or situation we are using telepathy to reach in and touch deeply, to bring other home with us. It works because of connectivity. Love is the superconductor that delivers this energy (love) to its destination. The more love we feel the more effective our intention. It is easy and natural to influence change from the inside in this way. We can also send specific thoughts to another or others as well as receive them. Telepathy is used in 'mundane' ways as in "Please remember to call home," the mother might send the thought to her child. Or "Add applesauce to the shopping list," can be sent telepathically. It is a truly practical gift when used in ways like this. Then, there is how different the world is when you know other people know what you are truly thinking/feeling. Reality check, big time. It encourages a quality of self awareness to know that we are known, that our thoughts emanate from us, as do our feelings. That we can be read like a book. Then, we get to choose what kind of book we will be for others to enjoy. When I looked out into the world and saw 'what was going on' I used to feel dismay, concern, anxiety at the masses and the very far distance 'they' (us) seemed to be from the Light, from being home, at*one. Then, one day the realization that we are all connected and harmonically related to each other. And so what was my enlightenment was part of the whole and each of us were adding our enlightenment to the whole and it was 'illuminating' (enlightening from within) by leaps and bounds. Another level of being able to breathe deeply. Everything was on course. I could be certain that every thought /feeling of love was reaching everything else and activating it. I became more intentional with my thoughts through telepathy to touch in a good way. This has much to do with empowerment. Because it zero matters who "they" are, what "they" are doing or planning to do. What matters is us, as conscious co-creators. All*That*Is is looking to us to take the lead, to show a new way.