Underwater noise

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Underwater noise, also called underwater noise pollution, is the name given to sound emissions that can be perceived underwater.

A wide variety of interacting sources of noise, including shipping, oil and gas exploration and production, the use of dredgers , construction site work, aircraft noise and military activities, have led to a dramatic increase in noise levels in all oceans. Anthropogenic underwater noise has doubled in every decade over the past 60 years. If the industrial use of the world's oceans is further promoted, the noise pollution in the world's oceans will increase even more.

Effects

A wide variety of marine life, especially marine mammals and fish , rely on their acoustic sense to survive. They use sound emissions to communicate with conspecifics, to find mating partners, to track down food, to spot enemies or to orientate themselves underwater. Acoustic orientation under water is very efficient, because the speed of sound propagation in water is around five times faster than in the air and the range is hundreds of kilometers, many times greater than, for example, the visibility, which is only a few meters.

The communication and orientation of whales and dolphins takes place by means of sound . Ambient noise not only disturbs them, but can also lead them to strand and die.

With certain species of whale it has been proven that the incredibly loud active sonars of the Navy lead to panic surfacing of the animals. This causes gases bound in the blood to pear out, in particular nitrogen, which in pearled form blocks blood vessels and causes tissue damage, whereupon the animal dies. This phenomenon is known as decompression sickness in divers . Sound goes very far and still has an effect hundreds of kilometers away. Different whale species are affected depending on the frequencies used.

Intensive noise pollution has been shown to have harmful effects on a whole range of commercially used fish species, which are manifested, among other things, by leaving their habitual habitat, reduced reproductive performance and increased susceptibility to disease.

According to a study, for example, the use of airguns (air pulsers), which are used to find oil and gas deposits, decreased the amount of fish caught by 45–70%.

Countermeasures

International reactions

In response to the serious problem of underwater noise, several major intergovernmental bodies have recognized over the past few years that exposure to noise in the oceans poses a threat to the marine environment and have called for the use of noise-generating technology in the world's oceans to be more careful and cautious. This growing international consensus has only recently taken shape in the conclusions and resolutions that follow .

Temporal course

In August 2003, the members of ASCOBANS passed the Agreement for the Conservation of Small Whales in the North Sea and Baltic Sea Resolution No. 5, in which they call on the member states to take steps to reduce noise pollution of cetaceans through seismic tests, military activities, shipping, acoustic To initiate deterrent devices and other sources of acoustic interference.

In June 2004, the IWC's Scientific Committee came to the conclusion that the state of the art of noise pollution in the world's oceans is an inevitable potential threat to marine mammals and their populations on a regional and ocean-wide scale. The report of the Scientific Committee calls for multilateral cooperation to monitor underwater noise in the world's oceans and to develop noise balances for all residents of a basin and also on a regional scale.

In October 2004, the European Parliament passed a resolution with a clear majority calling on its 25 member states to implement moratoriums and restrictions on the use of high-intensity active sonar systems in fleet exercises (including in the context of NATO maneuvers) and to develop alternative technologies and immediately limit the use of high-intensity active sonar systems in their territorial waters. The resolution also calls on the member states to set up an international project group to draw up international agreements on the regulation of underwater noise levels in the world's oceans.

In November 2004, the 16 member states of ACCOBAMS adopted Resolution 2.16, in which they recognized underwater anthropogenic noise in the world's oceans as pollution that can have extremely detrimental effects on marine life, ranging from disturbance and injury to death being able to lead. The resolution calls on the member states to refrain from anthropogenic noise pollution in habitats of sensitive species and in other areas in which marine mammals or endangered species may live in high density, to intensify national and international research in this area, to develop and develop alternative technologies Promote the use of the best possible methods available to reduce noise emissions.

In November 2004, the IUCN adopted a resolution recognizing noise as a form of pollution and calling on the governments of member states to apply the precautionary principle in assessing the impact of noise pollution caused by commercial, military and industrial activities. The resolution urgently calls on states to refrain from using strong sources of noise in habitats of sensitive species and in other areas in which marine mammals or endangered species may live in high density, and to work through the UN to ensure that “mechanisms to contain underwater noise be developed. "

In November 2005 the United Nations passed a resolution on the oceans, which for the first time also addresses underwater noise and its effects on marine life in the section on the protection of endangered ecosystems. This calls for the effects of noise on living things to be studied in more detail and taken into account.

In October 2007, the signatory states of ACCOBAMS adopted Resolution No. 3.10 on guidelines for action in connection with the negative effects of underwater noise on marine mammals.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christine Erbe, Rob Williams, Miles Parsons et al .: Underwater noise from airplanes: An overlooked source of ocean noise in Marine Pollution Bulletin, Vol. 137, December 2018, pp. 656-661, doi :: 10.1016 / j.marpolbul .2018.10.064
  2. ^ Andrew, RK, Howe, BM and Mercer, JA 2002. Ocean ambient sound: Comparing the 1960s with the 1990s for a receiver off the California coast. Acoustic Research Letters Online 3 (2): 65-70; International Whaling Commission, 2004 Report of the Scientific Committee Annex K, at § 6.4
  3. ↑ a b c International Whaling Commission (IWC), Scientific Committee (IWC-SC) Report, Annex K: Report of the Standing Working Group on Environmental Concerns (May 2004)
  4. ↑ a b Popper. AN 2003. The effects of anthropogenic sounds on fishes. Fisheries 28 (10): 24-31.
  5. ↑ Engel, MH, Marcondes, MCC, Martins, CCA, Luna, FO, Lima, RP and Campos, A. Are seismic surveys responsible for cetaceans strandings? An unusual mortality of adult humpback whales in Abrolhos Bank, northeastern coast of Brazil. Paper SC / 56 / E28 presented to IWC Scientific Committee, Sorrento, Italy, 2004 (unpublished); Frantzis, A. 1998. Does Acoustic testing strand whales? Nature 392: 29; Jepson, PD, M.Arbelo, Deaville, R., Patterson, IAP, Castro, P., Baker, JR, Degollada, E., Ross, HM, P.Herráez, AM Pocknell, Rodríguez, F., E. Howie , F., Espinosa, A., Reid, RJ, Jaber, JR, V. Martin, Cunningham, AA and Fernández, A. 2003. Gas bubble lesions in stranded cetaceans. Nature 425: 575-576.
  6. ^ McCauley, R., J. Fewtrell, and AN Popper. 2003. High intensity anthropogenic sound damages fish ears. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 113: 638-42; Bart, AN, Clark, J., Young, J. and Zohar, Y. 2001. Underwater ambient noise measurements in aquaculture systems: a survey. Aquacultural Engineering 25: 99-110.
  7. ↑ Engås, A., S. Løkkeborg, E. Ona, and AV Soldal. 1996. Effects of seismic shooting on local abundance and catch rates of cod (Gadus morhua) and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 53: 2238-2249.