Navy resumes sonar training

The Navy has resumed sonar training off the coast of Southern California despite the continuing legal battle over how the exercises affect whales and other marine mammals.

The training by the carrier strike group of the USS Abraham Lincoln is part of a broader exercise to prepare the group for deployment, the Navy said.

During the exercises, which began Wednesday and were scheduled to last through Friday, sailors train in antisubmarine warfare, ocean security operations and other areas. The antisubmarine warfare exercises use mid-frequency active sonar that environmentalists say hurts whales and other marine life.

Earlier this month, a federal judge temporarily lifted certain measures designed to lessen the impact of sonar on whales, a day after President Bush exempted the Navy from an environmental law in an effort to allow the service to continue antisubmarine warfare exercises.

In a memorandum, the president said the exercised were &quot;in the paramount interest of the United States&quot; and its national security.

&quot;We are conducting this operation within all the regulations,&quot; said Cmdr. Dora Lockwood, spokeswoman for the U.S. Third Fleet in San Diego. Critics contend that sonar has harmful effects on whales and other marine mammals, possibly by damaging their hearing.