Bob R. Lundin

Dear Sirs: Thank you for the opportunity to comment on protecting whales outside the Golden Gate. First of all, it is imperative to do what ever we can to protect these animals from harm in today’s world so future generations can also appreciate them. I like the saying “We have not inherited this world from our parents but have borrowed it from our children’s future.” The January 2011 issue of National Geographic has a short article titled “Drifting in Static” about noise in the ocean. A sentence in that article reads “The animals (whales) use sound to find food and mates, to avoid predators, and to communicate. My recommendation is to (a) install sonar in the sensitive areas to sense the presence of whales and (b) use sound to scare the whales away from the shipping corridors. Another similar recommendation would be to use sonar to detect whales and use that information to slow or divert ships.