New international study warns that increased tanker traffic puts endangered and threatened whales at risk.
The study, published Tuesday in the journal Animal Conservation, notes that shipping noise is considered a serious threat by inhibiting the ability of whales to communicate, search for prey, navigate and select mates.
Endangered killer whales are suffering the highest levels of noise in their designated critical habitat while threatened fin and humpback whales living in some of the quietest waters are at risk from increased tanker traffic associated with planned LNG and pipeline projects.
When whales live near a shipping lane, their voice, their sound just doesn’t travel as far as under quiet conditions.
Military sonar and seismic surveys are other forms of underground noise that can damage or even kill whales, other cetaceans and fish.
Orcas or killer whales in areas such as Haro Strait in the southern Strait of Georgia experience the highest levels of shipping noise despite those waters being designated critical habitat for their recovery.
Northern resident killer whales at Robson Bight, a protected area in Johnstone Strait, are also experiencing high noise levels.
“You don’t have to introduce fleet-wide draconian measures,” a scientist said. “You don’t have to quiet every ship. It turns out ... if you can identify the noisiest 10 per cent of the ships, and quiet those, you’ll probably get a 50-per-cent reduction.”
Read more - http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Whales+bombarded+constant+shipping+noise/9069372/story.html
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