Anthropogenic Noise On Cetaceans

Cetaceans use sound extensively in both communication, hunting, and navigation. However as humanity continues to make use of the ocean we are constantly filling it with equipment that produces high amounts of sound. These devices are starting to have an impact on cetaceans worldwide, from mass strandings often linked to military exercises to area denials caused by busy commercial shipping lanes and seismic surveys. If consideration is not taken towards this problem now it could develop into something that could have degrading effects on cetacean populations in the future.

The ocean is a vast biome that is constantly changing. There is much to learn about the life within, the article “Omura's whales (Balaenoptera omurai) off northwest Madagascar: ecology, Behavior and conservation needs” showed how our knowledge of the ocean and the life within continues to grow. Balaenoptera omurai, or Omura's whale was only found as a new species in the year 2003. Their are no dependable population size estimates or evaluation of conservation facts because there is not enough data collected on these cetaceans. Scientists are able apply what they learn from some of these organism to humans. In the article “Reproductive Conflict and the Evolution of Menopause in Killer Whales” scientists were able to draw comparisons between Humans and other species.

Cetacean bycatch in fishing industries has been a highly debated topic for decades and is still considered an ongoing problem(NOAA 8). However, when it is looked at in comparison, the problem of bycatch has already been solved as much as is possible while still allowing fishing industries to fish at all. Bycatch is defined as any marine life that is caught and returned to the sea, whether it is dead or alive(Brooke 2). Therefore, many marine animals that are considered bycatch are not harmed in any way. Including these animals, the national bycatch ratio is still low(Brooke 3). Many actions have already been taken since this has become an issue that has reduced bycatch by an incredibly large amount. In many areas, the amount of bycatch compared to the amount of fish that the fisheries in that area take in is only a small fraction(Brooke 3). There will always be bycatch in fishing, even if a single fisherman is fishing with a single

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).

Recent Off-Shore drilling in the United States in the Atlantic Ocean has had a very negative effect on Bottlenose Dolphins. The noise caused from drilling has negatively affected their ability to communicate effectively. Recently off-shore drilling has increased to help create more jobs in America however, the Bottlenose Dolphins have been paying the price. Off-shore drilling creates lots of boat traffic around the drilling areas which interferes with the dolphins ability to communicate through echolocation. However the main interference with dolphins communication has been caused by seismic testing from these boats. Seismic testing is when loud blasts of compressed air are sent deep into the ocean to bounce off the seafloor to test to

First, the article claims that this was calls of the male and female orca whales during courtship ritual. The professor refutes this point by saying that this sound was unlikely to be calls of the orca whales. She states that orca whales usually prefer to swim near the surface of water but submarines leaved the surface and patrol in deep are therefore they cannot detect orca whales' calls truly.

This fat body leads directly to the bulla, producing a sound path to the ear

Bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821), are cosmopolitan marine mammals that have been studied both in wild and in captivity, using diverse techniques. The majority of studies involve social structure dynamics, behavior, communication, ecology, distribution, and anatomy, among others. This thesis is divided in three main sections: developing of a tracking system, that enables the quantification of the position of the animal in the pool; accelerometry, that will permit the analysis of fine detailed behavior; and acoustics, in order to better understand the communication of these animals in different contexts. All sections had the purpose of collecting extensive detailed behavior of captive bottlenose dolphins to: 1) develop

According the University of St. Andrews’ study, of 29 different dolphins, whistling rates during non-polarized and socializing movements were higher than surface travel (Quick & Janik, 2008).

Whales are highly intelligent creatures and possess many human like qualities such as the ability to teach, learn, cooperate, and grieve. They communicate using echolocation, by which sounds are able to travel for miles as the sound waves propagate in the water (Whale Communication and Vocalizations, 2015). The sounds will echo back to the whale that sends them and this form of communication can travel at a speed of one mile per second. Different species of whales take on various forms of communication as is evident by the humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, who communicate by singing. Both male and female humpback whales vocalize, but only the males produce the characteristically loud and complex “song” with distinct themes and melodies

Many of them have discovered evidence that helps confirm that anthropogenic sounds can have negative effects on marine life. Research from the Heard Island Feasibility Study found that sperm whales and pilot whales stopped producing the sounds they use to communicate with each other when the researchers transmitted sounds. Other studies have found similar results suggesting that man-made sounds can have behavioral effects on marine life. Studies like "Masking in three pinnipeds: Underwater, low-frequency critical ratios" from Journal of the Acoustical Society of America have found that noises from ships like from the bubbler system or propellers masked beluga whale calls so that the whales were unable to detect each other’s vocalizations. Sounds produced by boats have been shown to cause temporary threshold shift, meaning it changes the range of frequencies that a marine animal can hear in studies like "Effects of boat engine noise on the auditory sensitivity of the fathead minnow, Pimephales promelas" ("Potential effects of sound on marine

Orcas are amongst the top most social creatures due to their high structure of communication. Orcas use a variety of ways to communicate such as body language, movement, and their most crucial way to communicate is echolocation. Echolocation is the “movement of sound” and orcas use this to study their surroundings and communicate with other members of their species (Koene). So, if they are in the ocean or in an aquarium, these traits are going to be used. In a comparison chart created and published by the Animal Welfare Institute, it explains the differences between orcas in aquariums verse in the ocean; in the ocean, “orcas live in a world of sound” (as explained earlier) and “they rely on their hearing as we do on our sight. Echolocation

The significance of this research is that it told us that dolphins do not use voice cues as a part of their communication. I would fund this research because this is another step of learning more about how dolphins use their signature whistles to communicate. One thing that might have been done to make it better was maybe trying the experiment with different age of dolphins to see if the voice cues are used at a younger age or older. The part of the study I didn’t understand was how the whistles were different on the examples. I could see that over a time period the frequency changes but how does it sound.

The first reason that I believe that there are negative affects on whales due to ocean noise is that, just like us, even everyday noises can harm their ears. The passage states, "Whales communicate with each other by sending out sound waves. Scientists suspect that the increase in underwater noise has interfered with the whales' ability to 'hear' one another." Whales communicate using sound waves, in which increased sound waves can interfere with. Imagine if you were trying to talk to someone beside you during a very energetic concert. How hard would it be to raise your voice just to talk to them. This is what happens with the whales. The whales will have to use more energy to communicate with other pod members.

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