A victory for marine life and tourism was scored in Los Angeles last week in a landmark ruling concerning the use of sonar in navy training missions.
Whales, dolphins and other marine life using the popular migratory route that extends up to 12 miles off the Southern Californian coast will no doubt be a little more keen to take this route after the Navy were ordered to curtail submarine-hunting sonar use in the area.
US district judge Florence-Marie Cooper ordered the navy to refrain from use of the technology if mammals were spotted within 2,200 yards of the ship.
She referred to the navy's own study, which stated that sonar would cause "widespread harm to "nearly 30 species of marine mammals, including five species of endangered whales".
However, a spokesperson for the US navy noted that it believed the decision did not strike "right balance between national security and environmental concerns".
The decision could result in an increased chance of seeing wildlife in tours off the coast, with less of the mammals likely to be scared away by the painful sonar.
Use of sonar in exercises by the US navy in Hawaii, Spain and other global locations are on record as having led to the mass stranding of several species of whales.
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