Why Do You Think Underwater Noises Affect The Ocean?

On Saturday May 20th a confused Humpback whale gets stuck in the Ventura Harbor in California. The Coast Guard attempted to guide the Whale in various ways. The First way was to lure it with food but it did not take the bait. The next way was to emit sounds in the ocean to also lure it out but again it did not. Officials said they were worried about all the boats in the harbor being damaged because of the whale.

II. the second reason is because the whales do a lot of turning since they cannot swim in a straight line as they do in the wild, thus bending the fin.

In the first passage titled "What to Do about Underwater Noise" it is stated, "It interfered with their communications and caused them to change their diving and feeding patterns." Since whales interact by sending sound waves to one another the intensity of underwater noise has interfered with the whales' ability to hear each other. Scientists also believe that underwater noise may even

“… building a tank the size of Rhode Island wouldn’t be large enough for a six-ton male killer whale such as Tilikum, an animal capable of swimming 100 miles a day,” states an anonymous whale expert. Whales have been in captivity since 1861 when P.T. Barnum displayed the first live whale that was captured in Canada. However, Barnum had no idea how to care for the mammal and it died after only a week in captivity. (Animal Legal and Historical Center, 2014) Being up close with killer whales could give us some clues about how they interact with each other, including physical behavior, their dialect, and how their pods work together as a family unit. However, what we are finding is that whales who belong in the wild are suffering in

Whales as animals are not easy to track because they move to fast and they live far from the land. Also when they move it is impossible to find any signs of their presence. For many biologist studying whales is challenging and they have tried many complex techniques but without results. Studying these animals with Snotbot sometimes it is inefficient and too expensive.

There is no doubt that humans have always been intrigued with the majestic beauty of the large giants found in all of the world’s oceans. Whales and people have had a long history together, marked by many turns of events.

Bottlenose dolphins produce a extensive variety sounds that are divided into two categories: pulsed emissions, i.e. echolocation clicks and burst-pulsed sounds; and non-pulsed signals, i.e. whistles (Caldwell et al., 1990; Janik, 2013) (Figure 1:2).

Whales resort to pacing around the tank in circles to emulate the fast strong feeling of a swim normally done in the wild in an attempt to keep their dorsal fin upright.

Another very interesting thing that I have found out in this essay by Regina Blackstock is a case that occurred in 1962 when some Lockheed Aircraft Corporation scientists erected a barrier across a channel with strong microphones. When the dolphins approached it, clicking noises were heard. The dolphins gathered into a group in nearby shallow

Humans fish to survive and in doing so they will target specific species leading to overfishing. Sound pollution is causing issues with the wildlife of the ocean in how they communicate and move around. With human interaction comes trash which gets left in the ocean and affects many different species.

It is important that we continue to research known harmful anthropogenic sounds and their effects on cetaceans to limit further damage, and to research other sources of noise due to humans and their potential effects to prevent future harm. Through research, it is shown that various noise pollution caused by humans can have detrimental effects on cetaceans such as harbor porpoises, bottlenose dolphins, killer whales, and Cuvier’s beaked whales. Shipping, windfarm construction, and sonar can cause temporary or permanent hearing threshold changes, which can result in decreased foraging ability and communication ability. Shipping has been seen to decrease foraging time and cause acoustic masking. Sonar can cause death due to strandings and lesions. These all add up to show that, overall, noise pollution by humans has a serious effect on the quality of life for cetaceans. It is also important to recognize that absence of a detected reaction does not mean that there is no impact on these cetaceans. It is possible that noise pollution can cause physiological and psychological responses without any external symptoms we can detect. It may be important to develop methods to observe these more subtle reactions to noise pollution that may impact cetacean’s way of life. It is important that humans realize the full extent of their effect on marine life and create measures to prevent more harm. Noise pollution’s effect on cetaceans affect not only these species, but the other marine life they interact with and the ecosystems of the

The constructions of the turbines alone are creating an effect on these mammals because of the frequency of noise that is emitted into the water. These frequencies disrupt mammal communication, location and location of other species around them.

Cetaceans use echolocation to make sense of their world and has only recently been of concern due to the ability of dolphins to locate objects and discriminate objects based on size, shape, and composition (Akamatsu, Nakaqawa, & Hatakeyama, 1995). Any disturbance in the form of sound pollution could cause these cetaceans to mass strand because they are so dependent on sound as their principal sense (Nowacek et al. 2007). Sound travels very efficiently underwater and so impacted areas can affect thousands of square kilometers out. Most of the sound pollution in the ocean come from underwater explosions caused by sonar, seismic testing caused by oil and gas industries, or underwater sea quakes through natural events. The anthropogenic noises can cause deep-diving populations like beaked whales to be threatened and abandon their habitat and surface rapidly. Exposure to anthropogenic sounds negatively affect deep-diving cetaceans (Cox et al. 2006). There are a number of hypotheses for the injuries in the cetaceans that stranded in areas of sonar exercises like decompression sickness and behavioral

Oceans cover approximately 75% of Earth 's surface and are vital to this planet and the people who inhabit it. Oceans provide food, natural resources, and recreation for nearly everyone in this world. Unfortunately Oceans have been receiving mass amount of pollutants including oil spills, toxic waste dumping, and industrial dumping. These pollutants will have negative impacts on the wildlife in the ocean, as we are seeing already with the Coral Reefs, and soon enough it will begin to affect our lives as well.

What would the ocean be like without whales? One thing that is never thought about when whales are being hunted is how important they are. For humans to understand the purpose of the whale and just going off the information one has learned may be different. Understanding the whale may be more complex than thought out to be. There is more to know about whales other than they can be big intimidating creatures. It is important to make sure whales are being protected. When an individual enters in a different environment they do not think about the potential danger that could be caused. Because whales are important to the food chain and also the marine life ecosystem, individuals should consider saving the whales.