Shipping, drilling, and sonar have transformed the sea from a silent place to one more akin to a construction site.
Alexis Rudd is a researcher of undersea sound, in Saint John for the Green Marine conference at the Trade and Convention Centre. She tells CHSJ News 95% of noise pollution comes from something called propeller cavitation. When a ship propellor spins quickly, it creates bubbles–the bubbles then collapse on themselves, creating a mini-impolsion. Those implosions add up to a significant among of noise pollution when combined with natural noise-makers like rain and lightning, as well as other human activities.
In some areas under the ocean the noise level remains a constant 140 decibels, which is the same as 24/7 noise from a large truck, and that increases the levels of stress and disease among ocean animals. Rudd says the UN and other regulatory bodies need to beef up the international stance on undersea noise pollution, and researchers need to look at its long-term effects on animals.
