posted on Jun, 2 2010 @ 06:19 AM
This may sound silly, to some, but it has long been suspected that noise pollution is placing stress on life in the oceans...
Military sonar, Oil drilling, shipping, pipe lines etc... all add to the noise in the ocean.
It is easy to forget that sound travels through water far faster than through air... many species of fish and mammals rely on their hearing.
Whales and dolphins, who use sound to guide them through the ocean, communicate and hunt, are particularly affected.
For them to swim near an area where military sonar is being used would be like us experiencing an EMP blast while flying a jumbo... all electronics
dead and no navigation...
It has long been suggested that it is military sonar that has been causing the mass beaching of whales who, without functioning navigation, are trying
to avoid these disruptive sounds.
If you go back just 200 years the oceans would have been acoustically very different... Sail boats where the common mode of transport for humans and
so the loudest noise in the ocean would have been whale song.
As in my best tradition of making "controversial" statements regarding the environment... Would it not be a good idea to start looking a sail
technology and electric motors in an attempt to quieten our footsteps through the seas?
If i had my own way i would ban ALL military sonar... however, it seems that we priorities our machines of destruction over all else on this planet...
what a strange race we humans are!
Anyway... these are just my own thought on this issue... for a far better read than what i can provide check out...
www.nrdc.org...
Also...
news.bbc.co.uk...