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Marine environmental awareness course. Underwater noise. Name – Date. Shipping noise. Contents Introduction Use of sound underwater Sources of underwater noise Impacts of underwater noise The role of shipping Solutions. 2. Photo credits: P. Gallego/North Sea Foundation.
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Marine environmentalawarenesscourse Underwater noise Name – Date
Shipping noise Contents Introduction Use of sound underwater Sources of underwater noise Impacts of underwater noise The role of shipping Solutions 2 Photo credits: P. Gallego/North Sea Foundation
1. Introduction • Marine animals use sound underwater • Ships became motorized and grew in size: human-related underwater noise increased • Underwater noise interferes with the use of sound by animals • Difficult for animals to avoid disturbance Photo credits: www.BeeldbankVenW.nl, Rijkswaterstaat/North Sea Foundation
2. Use of sound underwater • In the ocean, visibility is limited • Sound travelsfaster and further in water • Marine mammals use sound as a primary sense Photo credits: NOAA’s Ark, animal collection / Karen Varndell 2008, Marine Photobank
Use of sound by marine mammals • Communication • To maintainsocial order • Toattractmates • Todemonstrate fitness • Bond betweencalf and mother • To stimulatecooperation • To warnfordanger • Echolocation • Navigation Photo credits: NOAA’s Ark, animal collection / ProSea
Use of sound byotheranimals • Many species of fish and invertebratesuse sound • to attract mates • to ward off predators Toadfish Spiny lobster Photo credits: NOAA’s Ark, animal collection
3. Sources of underwaternoise • Naturalsources • Biological • Physical • Humanactivities Photo credits: ProSea / www.BeeldbankVenW.nl, Rijkswaterstaat / North Sea Foundation
4. Impacts of under water noise • Human produced sounds cause problems: • Loud background noise • Same-frequency sounds • Masking of important sounds • Treshold shift • Suddenpressurechange • Change of behaviour • Ship strikes Photo credits: NOAA Maryland Department of Natural Resources
5. Role of shipping • Past decades: more and biggerships • Large shipsproducerelativelyloud and low-frequency sounds Photo credits: North Sea Foundation / ProSea
Shippingincreasesunderwater background noise in general • Frequency band of vessel noise, 10Hz – 1 kHz, overlaps with the frequencies generally produced by whales, seals and sea lions Illustration credits: NOAA
6. Solutions • Underwaternoise of shippingnotregulated • Recognised as an issue by IMO – MEPC • Technicallypossibletoconstruct quieter ships, including adaptions to propellers