The Navy believes sonar in a planned training range for submarine warfare off the coast of north Florida will not disturb calving by endangered North Atlantic right whales, it said in an environmental impact statement Friday.
Environmentalists reacted with disappointment that the Navy plans to go ahead with development of its Undersea Warfare Training Center in Atlantic waters 75 miles off the coast of Mayport.
The coasts of north Florida and south Georgia are the primary calving grounds of the right whales, who travel to the area from New England during the winter to give birth and nurse their calves.