The Fight To Protect Whales Against The Navy's Noise Pollution

The author of a new book that criticizes the U.S Navy’s excessive use of active sonar in the ocean spoke with HuffPost Live about how the noise pollution is harming whales.

Joshua Horwitz spoke with host Ricky Camilleri about his new book War of the Whales, which reveals how the Navy pumps huge amounts of high-intensity sounds into the ocean, causing serious damage to ocean wildlife.

"They use sound to bounce off of objects, it’s called active sonar, and it’s the same way a bat echo-locates in the air," Horwitz said. "They do this in the water and they do it with various frequencies and intensities, and they need to use this to find enemy submarines."

He said that while the Navy does have to track these things, the usage is excessive and deadly and the tests are "pumping huge amounts of high-intensity sound into the oceans where these very acoustic animals [live].

"These are animals that live in the dark, and that’s why they’ve evolved over tens of millions years -- to be able to hunt, and navigate and communicate in the dark oceans," he said.

Watch the full interview with author Josh Horwitz below: