Noise Pollution in Our Oceans
Can They Hear Us Now?
For some, a gentle boat ride on the pulsating waves at sunset sounds like an incredible way to spend an evening, for others species, this could be terrifying.
Before humans discovered how to use the ocean to their benefit, life in the oceans was quiet for marine life. The occasional snap from a shrimp or click of a dolphin accompanied by the low-grumbling earthquakes and volcanic eruptions were the only things that disturbed the silence of the vast sea at the time. Today, we have many different uses for boats and other loud-engined vessels that it is easy to be unaware of just how they impact the ocean community. It’s becoming increasingly clear, thought, that our technology is creating chaos for many sensitive creatures that can’t handle the noise pollution loudness of boats, planes and people on beaches in general.
Noise pollution in the oceans has many sources, but the primary cause is the boats that glide across the water and above or near groups of marine life. Other sources include airplanes, beach parties, water skiing, and other recreational activities that generate high decibel and amplitude wavelengths that interfere with certain species.
The full extent to which noise pollution affects ocean life is not yet known, but there are certain species of dolphins, whales, and porpoises that have exhibited behavior after experiencing overwhelming amounts of noise pollution that comparable to a human committing suicide. Twenty seven other species of mammals are known to suffer from noise pollution, causing death or serious injury from hemorrhaging, nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream, temporary or permanent hearing damage, stranding, and behavioral issues (aggression). Fish also suffer from the consequences but not as severely as marine mammals do since many marine mammals use echolocation as a way of communication and navigation.
High-levels of noise pollution can disrupt echolocation and cause severe distress, disorientation, and discomfort of such high levels that it can lead to the eventual endangerment of these animals as populations decrease due to death related to noise pollution. As marine mammals often travel in large, family-like groups (pods or schools) the loss of one member can take out a significant amount of stress on the other pod members and lead to mass whale/dolphin/porpoise suicides.
“So, what?” You may be asking yourself, Why can’t the dolphins and whales just stop listening or leave?
The simple answer is that they don’t know when they’re going to be attacked by sound: there are no ways of for these animals to be able to avoid sound in the ocean since sound surrounds them when they are in the water. As the sound travels through the water, it disturbs the different wavelengths of communication that could be happening underneath the surface. For example, a dolphin swimming with it pod could easily get lost when a disturbing enough noise interrupts the “signal” between the dolphin and its pod.
Sound pollution can cause these echolocating mammals to experience severe pain. The sound is so overpowering that the porpoise eventually starts to get tired of swimming in circles after discovering its echolocation is useless when there’s a much louder source of noise nearby. The porpoise will become weak, and if it’s still with its pod when it dies, the entire pod may choose to beach themselves in an attempt to mourn the loss of their member.
In an interview with with Yale Environment 360, Christopher Clark, a marine bioacoustics aficionado at Cornell, says, “We look out at the ocean and see this bucolic seascape, and some seagulls flying along the horizon and maybe a sailboat, and we think everything is hunky dory. Well, it isn’t. We are injecting so much noise that we are effectively acoustically bleaching the world’s oceans.”
With this understanding, changes can begin to be made to not only accommodate our ocean friends, but to also create efficient and updated technology that is up to today’s standards. The U.S. has the tools and budget to create ships with quieter engines as well as airplanes, jet skis, and more. Change can start with reducing noise pollution in our oceans with your help
