Ocean Noise Drowning Out Marine Life
A recent study, published in the scientific journal "Science", reports on the analysis of more than 500 studies conducted on the impacts of human-caused noise on oceanic life. 90% of the studies documented significant harm to marine mammals from noise pollution; 80% identified impacts on fish and marine invertebrates.
The study warns that governments, concerned with the long-term health of the Earth’s environment, which humans as well as fish and marine mammals depend upon for our own existence, are not properly addressing ocean noise.
The article points out that vision and smell have limits underwater, but sound travels well and is therefore used by a variety of organisms, including whales and dolphins, to find food, find mates, navigate, and otherwise interact with the ocean environment. The rise in human-generated noise threatens these biological and social interactions.
Most obvious are numerous instances of massive marine mammal stranding incidents after the use of intense military sonars and oil exploration vessels shooting air guns into the ocean sediments. As environmentalists suspected, the harm to marine mammals is only the tip of the noise impact iceberg, despite assurances from the US Navy and other agencies that underwater noise was not a problem.
According to the study, over the past fifty years, noise from shipping alone has increased 32-fold. Yet, redesign of propellers for the loudest vessels can considerably reduce the level of noise generated (and, incidentally, can increase the efficiency of the propellers as well, improve fuel economy).
Noise, the report points out, has a cumulative impact on the ocean environment, yet it rarely appears as a consideration by management agencies of governments charged with protecting ocean life.
Major and minor changes to the use of intense sonars, air guns, underwater explosions, and shipping to reduce noise impacts will require considerable action in order to reduce the noise and allow our oceans to heal.
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