Sonar Exploration Persuasive Essay

Environmentalists are one the biggest critics against the notion of increasing domestic oil drilling. By increasing the amount of drilling we do in the United States, we increase the risk of disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Disasters are hardly the only source of economic damage either, to find oil reserves under the ocean, seismic waves are generated into the ground. These waves bounce off the ground back up to the ship, where computers and scientist can use the results to make educated guesses on whether or not oil is located under the surface. These seismic waves can wreak havoc with marine animals like whales; where in one case over 100 whales beached themselves to get away from the painful experience (Nixon). Using seismic waves does not even guarantee that oil might be located underneath the surface, the only way to tell is to actually drill into the potential finds causing even more destruction for what might be for no gain. Once oil is found and drilling has begun, the amount of damage done to the environment can become unimaginable. The recent example is that of the Deepwater

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.

The arctic is facing a crisis where seismic blasting for oil is disrupting and destroying the natural habitats of sea mammals, as well as, depriving aboriginal citizens of their natural food source, which they are dependant upon; fish. The blasting can kill the marine life as it occurs every ten seconds every single day for long periods of time, therefore many aboriginal fishermen within this regions are frightened by the effects of the blasting. Since it can be proven fatal to fish, the main concern is the blasting will eradicate and destroy the sea life and leave many aboriginal families starving. We plan to create a bill which will protect this natural resource from the harm of seismic blasting and ban all activities regarding the blasting or searching of any resource in the arctic while disrupting another.

“Oil destroys the insulating ability of fur-bearing mammals, such as sea otters, and the water repellency of a bird's feather, thus exposing these creatures to the harsh elements. Without the ability to repel water and insulate from the cold water, birds and mammals will die from hypothermia”, the NOAA states. Birds and other animals also ingest the oil trying to clean themselves in the water, which can poison them causing harm to their health. Humans eat those animals that ingest the oil sometimes causing sickness to humans, because you know, people shouldn’t eat oil. Every year, approximately 1.3 million gallons of oil are dumped or spilled into the U.S. waters from pipelines and vessels, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Noise pollution in the oceans is a serious problem too. Sound waves travel farther and faster in the sea’s darkest depths than they do in the air. Many marine mammals rely

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

This disaster of the BP oil spill has caused many deaths: 64 mammals, 2,919 birds, and 489 sea turtles according to National Wildlife Federation and these numbers are going to continue to rise year after year till all the oil is cleaned up. Also, the Gulf is home to endangered species. Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are currently listed as endangered, and could go to threatened in the next couple years. Another example is the Bluefin Tuna which is labeled as endangered and could send them to extinction due to the massive oil spill. This is one dire effect that is hurting our ecosystem, and this same instance happened in Alaska with the Exxon Valdez oil spill. A great example of how gruesome the oil has taken on wildlife, look at Fig. B where a there is an oil-soaked pelican. I believe the world should change its main source of oil to a different less destructing fuel.

Offshore oil drilling is a controversial topic because when oil spills, it does extensive amounts of damage to the environment. Countries capable of mining oil in the ocean reap the economic benefits in addition to reducing their dependency on external oil. While it is uncontroversial that offshore drilling is a massive boon for those countries, the environmental consequences of a spill also affect the economic welfare of nearby residents. Oil contaminates animals through a process called biomagnification, where chemicals progressively become more detrimental to the animals the higher they are on the food chain. When oil spills into the ocean, it impairs the growth of native species and deteriorates the ecosystem. As a result, the livelihood of people in the tourist industry, fisherman, and shrimpers is crippled and may take decades to recover.

Until now, when the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded in 2010 and dumped 4.9 million barrels of oil into Louisiana salt marshes, scientists had no idea which kinds of animals were most affected and what impact it had on the food chain. However, with a new study from a Coastal Waters Consortium team of researchers led by Rutgers University postdoctoral researcher, Michael McCann, has found out what animals and insects affected by the Deepwater Horizon explosion that should be given the top priority for conservation, protection and research. The researchers found that terns, gulls and wading birds were both sensitive to the oil and so deeply connected to other animals in the food chain as predator and prey that losing them would impact

Back in the spring of 2010, the Gulf of Mexico experienced the worst oil spill in U.S history as a result of an explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon Oil rig. On April 10th the hazardous accident had already killed 11 people, deformed and killed countless numbers of marine wildlife, and leaked 3.19 million barrels of oil that spread about 42 miles off the coast of Louisiana. Even though the well was located within the deep sea (the lowest part of the ocean that accounts for most of the water on Earth) the ecosystem suffered heavily from it. For instance, it has been reported that over 335 dolphins died, hundreds of sea turtles washed up on the shore soaked in oil, and hundreds of seabirds drowned or starved from not being able to fly,

The author’s credibility in this article (National Wildlife Federation, 2016) seem to be credible. The author has many facts and details that is pointed out in this article. For instance, the oil spill impacted several different species, such as whales and dolphins, birds, fish,

According to this article, “there are environmental regulations to minimize potential impact of marine construction activities and the sound generated underwater by such activities” (page 17). This is due to the fact that marine animals are affected by construction because of interaction with the equipment and/or exposure to the underwater sounds. Effects of interaction can result in an injury or death and the high sound levels can cause physiological effects, behavioral effects, or masking of other animal sounds. By defining how underwater sound affects marine animals, we can determine the best way to prevent any damage. Underwater sounds are produced by natural or anthropogenic sources.

The deafening blare roars loudly through the ocean like a painful screech. Even without an oil spill, there is harmful equipment used that causes significant harm to marine life. Airguns are used in offshore oil and gas explorations making intense sound waves, that can be heard thousands of miles away. It sends out very loud bangs into the ocean that can reach marine animals, damaging their hearing and other senses. Hearing is essentials for survival as an aquatic animal. Whales and many other marine animals use sound to find food, friends, a mate and find their way through the ocean every day. In Madagascar, 2008 the oil exploration dangerously harmed more than one hundred whales causing them to beach themselves. This is only one of many

One of the main issues of offshore drilling is the damaging effect that it has on our environment. “Something that many people do not know is that when oil is drilled from the ocean floor, oil is not the only thing that comes up. Mercury, arsenic, and lead are also brought up and are let back into the waters of the ocean” (Negative Effects of Offshore Drilling). At first glance, people may think that offshore drilling is just the drilling into the ocean floor to get petroleum. However, the actual process creates various complications that may lead to amplified and widespread negative effects. This is a serious problem to the sea life that inhabits those waters because all three of those chemicals can be very deadly. With bio-magnification, the ppm count these chemicals can reach high concentrations in large

Nowadays; shipping, oil extraction and marine construction cause underwater noise pollution, since whales use echolocation (the ability to observe and environment using sound, allowing them to find food and become aware of danger) they are directly affected. Therefore many organizations have been raising awareness for their conservation.

Different studies on how sound affects marine wildlife have shown many different results. One showed that there were many negative affects on the sea life and the other shows that there are little no no damages caused to the animals. I believe that the sounds in the ocean do, in fact, have a negative impact on the sea life. Just like us, these sea animals are living things. We may dislike similar things. Just like us, sea life does not deserve to deal with deafening sounds, preventing them from communicating with their friends, family, and pod members. Would you like to live in a home surrounded by construction, continuously banging?