Scott talks about noise on TV
Making noise about noise
Reporter Robert Santos covered the issue of underwater noise pollution in the oceans on KOMO4 TV yesterday. Thanks to referrals from Fred Felleman and Kelly Balcomb-Bartok, I was contacted to provide a connection between the bioacoustics of our local killer whales and the conference of the UN Environment Program in Rome this week that is considering a resolution of member countries to recognize and address ocean noise pollution.
Fred’s copy of the PI article that sparked Robert’s interest.
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scott
December 10th, 2008 at 12:00
To watch the archived footage, click on “Watch the story” below the by-line when you get to the KOMO4 web page…
scott
January 1st, 2009 at 11:44
Alex of http://beamreach.org/071 sent this clipping from Greenwire about a possible resolution to reduce ocean noise:
OCEANS: Noise pollution threatens whales, dolphins (12/04/2008)
The noises whales and dolphins use to communicate are being drowned out by interference from commercial shipping, new military sonar and climate change, altering the mammals’ behavior as they become disoriented and have difficulty finding mates and food, experts said.
The Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, attended by representatives from 100 countries, is considering a resolution that would compel countries to reduce noise pollution.
Sound pollution has been linked to a growing number of cases of stranded whales and dolphins, said Mark Simmonds from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. In some cases, the mammals had tissue damage similar to divers who surfaced too quickly, suggesting they were scared by military sonar or seismic testing and surfaced beyond their physical limits, he said.
Global warming could also be responsible for the phenomenon. Research suggests rising carbon dioxide levels are increasing the acidity of the earth’s oceans, allowing sound to travel further through sea water.