Kiera Jefferson
Ocean noise pollution is a growing concern for marine life, threatening the natural soundscape of the marine environment. Caused by human activities such as commercial shipping, seismic surveys, and military sonar, this form of pollution impacts a wide range of marine species, including dolphins, seals, fish, squid, crustaceans, and sea turtles. The noise interferes with vital functions such as mating, finding prey, navigating, and communicating, leading to changes in behaviour and, in some cases, even death. With sound being the primary means of communication for many marine animals, the increasing noise levels in the ocean affect habitats and species far and wide. As a result, there is a dire need for noise pollution control and regulation to protect the health and functions of marine ecosystems.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Animals Harmed | Dolphins, Seals, Fish, Squid, Crustaceans, Sea Turtles, Whales, Porpoises, Beaked Whales, Blue Whales, Cod, Herring, and many more |
| Cause of Noise Pollution | Commercial shipping, seismic surveys, oil exploration, military sonar, construction, explosions |
| Impact on Animals | Hearing loss, behavioural changes, injury, death, panic, decompression sickness, skin damage, haemorrhaging, stress, disorientation, inability to hunt, navigate, or detect predators |
| Action | Implement speed restrictions for ships, build ships with optimised noise reduction design, adopt quieter ship designs, implement stronger legislation to minimise ocean noise pollution |
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What You'll Learn
Ocean noise can cause hearing loss, injury, and death
Ocean noise pollution has increased dramatically over the past few decades, threatening the natural soundscape of the marine environment. Ships, seismic surveys, explosions, construction, and sonar devices have made the ocean noisy, which is extremely damaging for marine wildlife as most depend on sound for their survival.
Marine animals are highly dependent on underwater sound as it is an important sensory signal for them. Visibility is often low underwater, but sound is transmitted extremely well through water. Marine mammals such as whales, dolphins, and porpoises rely on sound to communicate, locate mates and prey, avoid predators, navigate, and defend their territories.
Noise pollution interferes with the detection of acoustic signals, masking the sounds produced by marine wildlife. This can lead to changes in individual and social behaviour, altered metabolisms, and hampered population recruitment, which can affect the health and service functions of marine ecosystems. It decreases the communication range of marine mammals and causes them to change their vocal behaviour. For example, increased ship noise caused bottlenose dolphins to simplify their vocal calls, reducing the information content of their calls and decreasing effective communication.
Noise pollution can cause hearing loss, injury, and even death in marine animals. Very loud sounds can cause marine mammals to panic and ascend too quickly to escape the noise, leading to decompression sickness and tissue damage from gas bubble lesions. Loud man-made noises have been linked to mass stranding and breaching events around the world. The loudest underwater noise comes from naval sonar devices, which work similarly to echolocation used by whales and dolphins and can travel hundreds of miles underwater.
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It interferes with animal communication and mating
Ocean noise pollution is a growing threat to marine wildlife, with human activities such as commercial shipping, seismic surveys, oil exploration, and military sonar causing serious harm to marine life. This noise pollution interferes with the key life functions of marine animals, including communication and mating rituals.
Marine mammals, such as whales, dolphins, and porpoises, are highly dependent on sound for survival. They rely on vocalizations and echolocation to communicate, locate mates and prey, navigate, and defend their territories. Ocean noise pollution disrupts these vital activities, making it harder for them to hear and find each other, coordinate hunts, and detect predators. For example, increased ship noise has caused bottlenose dolphins to simplify their vocal calls, reducing their effectiveness in communication.
Whales and dolphins have been observed changing their calls in an attempt to be heard over the noise pollution. These new vocalizations can make it more difficult for members of the same species to recognize each other and find potential mates. It also becomes harder for them to communicate the presence of predators or prey. The disruption of these acoustic signals can lead to changes in individual and social behaviour, altered metabolisms, and hampered population recruitment, ultimately affecting the health and service functions of marine ecosystems.
Additionally, excessive noise can cause panic in marine animals, leading them to ascend too quickly to escape the noise, resulting in decompression sickness and skin damage from gas bubble lesions. In some cases, loud noises can cause hearing loss or even strandings, where animals become disoriented and unable to navigate successfully.
Noise pollution does not only impact marine mammals. Fish, squid, crustaceans, and sea turtles are also affected. Fish exhibit stress responses, disturbed nesting habits, coordination issues, and hearing damage. Seismic surveys have been known to severely harm the internal organs of giant squid. While research on sea turtles is limited, airgun surveys have been observed to cause temporary hearing loss in these animals.
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It affects migration and navigation
Ocean noise pollution has become one of the deadliest threats to marine animals and the health of the ocean. It has been documented across all types of marine ecosystems, threatening the natural soundscape of the marine environment. It affects almost all marine animals, from plankton to whales, and can cause changes in behaviour, injury, and even death.
Marine animals have evolved over millions of years to use underwater sound as a primary means of communicating and assessing their environment. Sound plays an essential role in critical activities, such as breeding, foraging, maintaining social structure, and avoiding predators. For example, cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) send and receive complex sounds to communicate with each other, navigate the water, find food, and more.
Noise pollution can interfere with these acoustic signals, causing changes in individual and social behaviour, altered metabolisms, and hampered population recruitment, which in turn can affect the health and service functions of marine ecosystems. For instance, seismic surveys in the Barents Sea disrupted cod and herring migration routes, causing population declines as fish failed to return to traditional spawning and feeding grounds. As a result, commercial fisheries saw significant drops in catch rates, forcing operators to venture farther offshore at higher costs.
The migration of whales can be delayed by noise, causing them to become entrapped in ice and die. Noise can also cause whales and dolphins to strand and die, likely due to decompression sickness or the "diver's bend". Haemorrhaging to vital organs like the heart and brain can occur within 4 hours of exposure to naval sonar.
Noise pollution can also cause marine animals to deviate from their natural migration routes, pushing them into regions with insufficient food supplies or areas that fall outside their thermal range. In some cases, they are driven into more polluted waters, further exacerbating the challenges they face.
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It causes behavioural changes and stress
Ocean noise pollution has become one of the deadliest threats to marine animals and the health of the ocean. It has been documented across all types of marine ecosystems, threatening the natural soundscape of the marine environment. The noise comes from human activities such as commercial shipping, seismic surveys, oil exploration, and military sonar.
Marine animals, especially marine mammals, are highly dependent on underwater sound. Visibility is often low underwater, so sound has evolved as an important sensory signal for marine wildlife. They rely on sound to communicate, locate mates and prey, avoid predators, navigate, and even defend their territories.
Noise pollution interferes with these key life functions, causing behavioural changes and stress. For example, in an experiment in Southern California, blue whales responded to active sonar by stopping feeding, increasing their swimming speed, and moving away from the sound source. This can have significant impacts on the whales' individual fitness, foraging ecology, and population health. Noise pollution can also interfere with the detection of acoustic signals, masking the sounds produced by marine wildlife. This can lead to changes in individual and social behaviour, such as dolphins becoming separated from their pods, and altered metabolisms, affecting the health and service functions of marine ecosystems.
Many marine animals show stress responses in the presence of noise, with increased cortisol or other biochemical measures of stress. The loud and relentless volume and frequency of noises such as military sonar and seismic blasts can cause disorientation and physiological stress. For example, in 2000, 17 beaked whales were stranded off the coast of the Bahamas following naval exercises involving mid-frequency sonar, with post-mortem examinations revealing physical trauma and internal bleeding.
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It impacts all marine life, from plankton to whales
Marine life is extremely vulnerable to noise pollution, which has increased dramatically in recent decades. Sound travels extremely well through water, and marine animals have evolved to rely on it for vital functions such as mating, finding prey, and avoiding predators. Noise pollution interferes with these key life functions, causing behavioural and physiological changes, hearing loss, injury, and even death.
Plankton, the tiniest of marine creatures, are impacted by noise pollution. For example, carbon dioxide uptake is hindered by noise, exacerbating the climate crisis. Noise also affects the ability of plankton to mix the upper layers of sediment, compromising nutrient availability and ecosystem health.
Noise pollution has been shown to alter the feeding behaviour of fish, with some studies indicating that it can lower fertilization rates and viable egg productivity. Fish have also demonstrated stress responses to noise, with impaired risk assessment abilities, which could further affect their survival.
For marine turtles, noise can impact their breeding success. Leatherback turtles, for instance, may use the sound of surf breaking to orient themselves towards nesting beaches. Noise pollution can also cause temporary hearing damage in turtles, and in lobsters, it can affect their ability to circulate water within their burrows.
Whales, one of the largest marine animals, are also significantly affected by noise pollution. They rely on clicks, whistles, and echolocation for long-distance communication and to locate prey and navigate. Noise pollution masks these signals, making it harder for whales to communicate, find mates, and coordinate within their groups. It can also cause them to abandon their feeding grounds, leaving them weaker and more vulnerable to predators.
In summary, noise pollution in the ocean has far-reaching consequences, impacting all marine life, from plankton to whales. It disrupts their natural behaviours and vital functions, ultimately threatening the health and sustainability of entire marine ecosystems.
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Frequently asked questions
Ocean noise pollution is a type of environmental pollution caused by human activities—like commercial shipping, oil exploration, seismic surveys, offshore wind turbine installation, and military sonar—that generate unnatural and excessive sound underwater.
Marine animals depend on sound for vital functions such as mating, finding prey, avoiding predators, sensing their environment, orientation, and communication. Ocean noise pollution interferes with these functions, causing behavioural and physiological changes, hearing loss, injury, and even death.
All marine animals are impacted by ocean noise pollution, including dolphins, seals, fish, squid, crustaceans, sea turtles, whales, and plankton.
There are currently no international legal regulations on ocean noise pollution. However, organizations like IFAW and OceanCare are working with government officials to implement stronger legislation and minimize ocean noise pollution through speed restrictions for ships, optimized noise reduction design for ships, and incentives for ports to reduce noise pollution.
