Over the past decades, human-made noise pollution has increased and affected marine life all around the world. On February 22, 2022, a 10-meter long humpback whale was found washed up on the beach near Calais in northern France.
This image illustrates a washed-up whale on the Channel beach in France.
We always see whales washed up on shores on news channels. While the media presents the cases of whales being washed up, they never seem to specify what the cause of this problem is.
Through extensive research, we found out that there are multiple causes: the most prominent one being sound pollution in the ocean. There are the 5 essential senses that allow us to think, interpret, understand, and respond to the environment around us: sight, touch, smell, taste, and hearing. The loss of even one sense can significantly alter the brain. On the other hand, marine animals rely mainly on one specific sense to perform a variety of tasks: hearing. Sounds are not only acknowledged as the universal language underwater but can also travel faster and greater underwater, even in low-frequency. Therefore, when container ships pass the seas, they can create sounds up to 190 decibels underwater, which is equivalent to listening to a jet aircraft take off on land. However, discussions on marine life are often limited to ocean acidification and plastic pollution, overshadowing the urgency of sound pollution. Nevertheless, noise pollution is in fact as much of a detrimental problem.
Marine Life Faces Consequences:
“Like we have done in our cities on land, we have replaced the sounds of nature throughout the ocean with those of humans,” said Ben Haplern, an ecologist at the University of California. Sounds play a crucial role in facilitating marine animals underwater; however, like Haplern mentioned, noise pollution is hindering the animals’ essential life aid. For instance, marine animals like whales use the method of echolocation to produce “click” sounds that allow them to navigate through various locations. These reflected echoes locate prey, analyze objects, and overall understand the environment around them. Even more, fish create different kinds of sounds like clicks and snaps, which assist them in attracting opposite genders and fleeing away from predators. Nonetheless, when human-made noise produces sounds up to 230 decibels, it makes it extremely difficult for these animals to clearly navigate through the seas. In fact, the ocean itself is not completely silent; there are naturally formed environmental noises from winds, waves, and even movements of other ocean inhabitants, which can be calculated up to 100 decibels. However, human-made noises aggressively intensify the noise levels.
This diagram shows the sounds of various human activities that affect our marine life.
Taking Small Steps to a Big Solution:
Excessive stress, difficulties finding mates, struggles to search for food, and even death. How can we take responsibility for all these disastrous harms we have inflicted upon our marine community? Although overlooked, noise pollution can be as harmful as other global issues such as climate change and ocean acidification; however, noise pollution can be immediately reduced just by making a few adjustments.
Taking the initiative, we can reduce noise pollution by making changes to our shipping system. According to Kathy Metcalf, the president of the Chamber of Shipping of America, around 85% of shipping noises come from propellers. Precisely, this issue makes an appearance from cavitation: coming from a propeller design issue that leads to fuel inefficiency, lost energy, and noise. In 2017, Maersk, a Danish shipping company, spent over 100 million dollars in order to install more efficient propellers on 11 of their container crafts. After performing acoustical testing, it was proven that their noise went down by six to eight decibels. This marked a sweeping change as this meant that there was a 75% reduction in acoustic energy. Although this may not be the cheapest solution, this redesign in propellers brought long-term benefits to marine life.
On top of that, simply making ships slow down can make an impact on the noise production made by humans since slower ships are quieter. In 2017, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority started to ask ships to slow down when they go through the Haro Strait. This was where the resident killer whales were feeding. As most of the ships complied with this request, the noise was reduced by around 1.2 decibels. Although the shipping time increased by about half an hour, this small change had a huge impact as it decreased the noise intensity by 24%.
From this juncture, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority has started to make developments in their system as they extended the area where they asked the ships to slow down. As of 2021, there was a voluntary ship slowdown trial at Swiftsure Bank. In this slowdown trial, large commercial ships were asked to slow down while passing the Swiftsure Bank- a key area where southern resident killer whales are present. There was an 81% rate of cumulative participation in this slowdown trial which resulted in a more quiet marine environment that the killer whales could thrive in.
The first step towards change is awareness. Scientists have presented solutions to noise pollution, and many activists are trying to spread awareness of the severity of this issue. It is our job to make these solutions into reality around the globe. As a generation that is going to eventually face the consequences of the problems we made to our marine life, it is crucial for us to spread awareness. Unlike more complex issues such as climate change, noise pollution in the ocean can be significantly improved with rather simple measures. Therefore, with the cooperation of different organizations and countries, the solutions can be implemented to create great change. It is important to take matters into our own hands and stop noise pollution in our marine life. Our silence today is the cause of our devastating future.
Works Cited
“2021 Swiftsure Bank Voluntary Ship Slowdown.” Port of Vancouver, 5 Jan. 2022, www.portvancouver.com/environmental-protection-at-the-port-of-vancouver/maintaining-healthy-ecosystems-throughout-our-jurisdiction/echo-program/projects/swiftsure-bank-slowdown/.
Baker, Aryn. “Humans Are Making Oceans Noisier, Harming Marine Life.” Time, Time, 5 Feb. 2021, time.com/5936110/underwater-noise-pollution-report/.
Gill, Victoria. “Noise Pollution 'Drowns out Ocean Soundscape'.” BBC News, BBC, 4 Feb. 2021, www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55939344.
Jones, Nicola. “Ocean Uproar: Saving Marine Life from a Barrage of Noise.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 10 Apr. 2019, www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01098-6.
Polidoro, Joseph. “A Few Fixes Could Cut Noise Pollution That Hurts Ocean Animals.” Scientific American, Scientific American, 23 Feb. 2021, www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-few-fixes-could-cut-noise-pollution-that-hurts-ocean-animals/.
Robbins, Jim. “Oceans Are Getting Louder, Posing Potential Threats to Marine Life.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Jan. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/01/22/science/oceans-whales-noise-offshore-drilling.html.
Safina, Carl, et al. “Noise Pollution Impacting Marine Animals Worse Than Previously Thought.” Yale E360, 22 Feb. 2021, e360.yale.edu/digest/noise-pollution-impacting-marine-animals-worse-than-previously-thought.
Smita, et al. “Effects of Noise Pollution from Ships on Marine Life.” Marine Insight, 9 Sept. 2021, www.marineinsight.com/environment/effects-of-noise-pollution-from-ships-on-marine-life/.
TEDtalksDirector. “The Dangers of a Noisy Ocean -- and How We Can Quiet It down | Nicola Jones.” YouTube, YouTube, 16 Apr. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNQfoYm3WI0&ab_channel=TED.
“Underwater Noise & Marine Mammals.” Clear Seas, 6 Nov. 2020, clearseas.org/en/underwater-noise/#:~:text=Sounds in the ocean come,hydrothermal vents and marine life.
“Whale Beached in Southeastern Brazil Returns to the Ocean.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 24 Aug. 2017, apnews.com/article/83ef05345eb04eab90fc49a78879ed09.
“What Is Ocean Noise?” NOAA's National Ocean Service, oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ocean-noise.html#:~:text=Ocean noise refers to sounds,natural sounds in the ocean.&text=Noise from these activities can,many coastal and offshore habitats.
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