The MITT aims to expand the range of the Department of Defense training area in the region to 984,469 square nautical miles—being the largest DOD training area in the world. Imagine a training area larger than Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Montana and New Mexico COMBINED.
The training will include underwater bomb detonations and sonar training that harms and kills whales and dolphins, along with a ton of other activity that disturbs turtles, corals and other marine life.
Permits obtained from National Marine Fisheries Service authorize 12,580 detonations of various magnitudes per year for 5 years.
The MITT allows 81,962 takings of 26 different marine mammal species (including whales and dolphins) per year for 5 years due to detonation, sonar, and other training and testing activity within the MITT
The MITT also allows damage or kill of over 6 square miles of endangered coral reefs plus additional 20 square miles of coral reef around FDM through the use of highly explosive bombs.
We are deeply concerned about the consequences such actions will have on the significant resources our great ocean and land provide us in the Mariåna Islands. These actions have a devastating impact on indigenous culture and lifeways, increase our dependence on imported foods sources, and erode our resilience.
We urge all protectors to fill out the comment form on the following website:
DEADLINE to submit Comments on the MITT is TODAY April 27, 2019 at 5 p.m.
Prutehi Litekyan: Save Ritidian (PLSR) is a direct action group dedicated to the protection of natural and cultural resources in the areas identified for DOD live-fire training on Guam. We continue to stand in solidarity with the Tinian Women’s Association, Guardians of Gåni, PåganWatch, the Center for Biological Diversity, and their legal representatives, Earthjustice. For more information, please email Litekyan.opa@gmail.com.