<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/25/shipping-noise-arctic-whales-narwhals-sound-quieter-vessels>
"The delicate clicks and whistles of narwhals carry through Tasiujaq, locally
known as Eclipse Sound, at the eastern Arctic entrance of the Northwest
Passage. A hydrophone in this shipping corridor off Baffin Island, Nunavut,
captures their calls as the tusked whales navigate their autumn migration route
to northern Baffin Bay.
But as the
Nordic Odyssey, a 225-metre ice-class bulk carrier servicing the
nearby iron ore mine, approaches, its low engine rumble gives way to a wall of
sound created by millions of collapsing bubbles from its propeller. The
narwhals’ acoustic signals, evolved for one of Earth’s quietest environments,
fall silent.
“Narwhals stop calling or move away from approaching vessels when they hear
them,” says Alexander James Ootoowak, an Inuk hunter from Pond Inlet and field
technician with the research team that deployed the hydrophone to study these
acoustic overlaps.
The research, carried out in 2023 and published this year, adds to mounting
evidence that underwater radiated noise – sound energy that ships emit through
their hulls, propellers and machinery – is disrupting marine life. As the
crescendo grows, so too do calls to quiet the seas by designing less-noisy
ships.
Michelle Sanders, director general of the Innovation Center at Transport Canada
in Ottawa, says: “We need to bring everybody together to work toward a solution
that will reduce the sound in our ocean to protect marine species, regardless
of where the ships are operating.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
