The dangers of a noisy ocean -- and how we can quiet it down
-
0:01 - 0:05This is the sound of orcas
off the coast of Vancouver. -
0:05 - 0:10(Whale chirps and squeaks)
-
0:11 - 0:14They make these fantastic sounds
not just to communicate, -
0:14 - 0:16but also sometimes to echolocate,
-
0:16 - 0:19to find their way around and to find food.
-
0:19 - 0:21But that can be tricky sometimes,
-
0:21 - 0:24because, well, here is the sound
of a ship passing by, -
0:24 - 0:26recorded underwater.
-
0:26 - 0:31(Screeching oscillating sound)
-
0:32 - 0:35You know, when we think
about marine pollution, -
0:35 - 0:37I think we usually think about plastics.
-
0:37 - 0:38Maybe toxic chemicals,
-
0:38 - 0:41or even ocean acidification
from climate change. -
0:41 - 0:45As a science journalist who often writes
about environmental issues, -
0:45 - 0:47those are the things
that have passed my desk -
0:47 - 0:49over the past 10 years or so.
-
0:49 - 0:50But as I recently realized
-
0:50 - 0:53when I was writing a feature
for the science journal "Nature," -
0:53 - 0:57noise is another
important kind of pollution. -
0:57 - 0:58One that often gets ignored.
-
0:59 - 1:02You know, maybe you've heard
of the dark-skies movement, -
1:02 - 1:06which aimed to raise awareness
of the issue of light pollution -
1:06 - 1:09and create pockets of unilluminated night,
-
1:09 - 1:11so that people and animals
-
1:11 - 1:16could enjoy more natural cycles
of light and dark, night and day. -
1:16 - 1:17Well, in much the same way,
-
1:17 - 1:19there are people now raising awareness
-
1:19 - 1:21of the issue of noise pollution
-
1:21 - 1:24and trying to create
pockets of quiet in the ocean, -
1:24 - 1:28so that marine life can enjoy
a more natural soundscape. -
1:28 - 1:30This is important.
-
1:30 - 1:32Noise isn't just an irritation.
-
1:32 - 1:35It can cause chronic stress,
-
1:35 - 1:36or even physical injury.
-
1:36 - 1:40It can affect marine life's ability
to find food and mates -
1:40 - 1:43and to listen out for predators and more.
-
1:44 - 1:47Think of all the sounds
we inject into the ocean. -
1:47 - 1:50Perhaps one of the most dramatic
is the seismic surveys -
1:50 - 1:52used to look for oil and gas.
-
1:52 - 1:55Air guns produce loud blasts,
-
1:55 - 1:57sometimes every 10 to 15 seconds,
-
1:57 - 1:59for months on end.
-
1:59 - 2:01And they use the reflections
of these sounds -
2:01 - 2:03to map the ground beneath.
-
2:03 - 2:04It can sound like this.
-
2:06 - 2:11(Explosion sounds)
-
2:12 - 2:15Then, there's the sound
of the actual drilling for oil and gas, -
2:15 - 2:18the construction of things
like offshore wind farms, -
2:18 - 2:20sonar
-
2:20 - 2:24and of course, the nearly constant drone
from more than 50,000 ships -
2:24 - 2:26in the global merchant fleet.
-
2:27 - 2:29Now the natural ocean itself
isn't exactly quiet. -
2:29 - 2:31If you put your head under the water,
-
2:31 - 2:35you can hear cracking ice, wind, rain,
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2:35 - 2:37singing whales, grunting fish,
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2:37 - 2:39even snapping shrimp.
-
2:39 - 2:41Altogether, that can create a soundscape
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2:41 - 2:43of maybe 50 to 100 decibels,
-
2:43 - 2:46depending on where and when you are.
-
2:46 - 2:49But mankind's addition to that
has been dramatic. -
2:49 - 2:53It's estimated that shipping has added
three decibels of noise to the ocean -
2:53 - 2:56every 10 years in recent decades.
-
2:56 - 2:58That might not sound like a lot,
-
2:58 - 3:00but decibels are on a logarithmic scale,
-
3:00 - 3:02like the Richter scale for earthquakes.
-
3:02 - 3:05So a small number can actually
represent a large change. -
3:05 - 3:10Three decibels means a doubling
of noise intensity in the ocean. -
3:10 - 3:11A doubling.
-
3:12 - 3:13And that's only an estimate,
-
3:13 - 3:16because no one is actually keeping track
of how noisy the ocean is -
3:16 - 3:18all around the world.
-
3:18 - 3:22There is a body called
the International Quiet Ocean Experiment, -
3:22 - 3:24and one of their missions
-
3:24 - 3:26is to try and plug the hole in that data.
-
3:28 - 3:29So for example, last year,
-
3:29 - 3:32they managed to convince
the Global Ocean Observation System -
3:32 - 3:34to start including noise
-
3:34 - 3:36as one of their essential
variables for monitoring, -
3:36 - 3:39alongside things
like temperature and salinity. -
3:40 - 3:41We do know some things.
-
3:42 - 3:45We know that sonar can be as loud,
or nearly as loud, -
3:45 - 3:47as an underwater volcano.
-
3:47 - 3:51A supertanker can be as loud
as the call of a blue whale. -
3:51 - 3:54The noises we add to the ocean
come in all different frequencies -
3:54 - 3:56and can travel great distances.
-
3:56 - 3:59Seismic surveys off the East Coast
of the United States -
3:59 - 4:03can be heard in the middle
of the Atlantic. -
4:03 - 4:05In the 1960s, they did an experiment
-
4:05 - 4:08where they set off a loud noise
off the coast of Perth, Australia, -
4:08 - 4:10and they detected it
as far away as Bermuda, -
4:10 - 4:1320,000 kilometers away.
-
4:16 - 4:18So what does all this
sound like to marine life, -
4:18 - 4:20what do they hear?
-
4:20 - 4:21It's kind of difficult to describe.
-
4:21 - 4:25Sound travels further, faster in water
than it does in air, -
4:25 - 4:27and it also packs a different punch.
-
4:27 - 4:30So sound of the same pressure
will have a different intensity -
4:30 - 4:34whether you measure it
in the air or underwater. -
4:34 - 4:38Then there's the fact that whales
don't have ears exactly like human ears. -
4:38 - 4:40Creatures like zooplankton
-
4:40 - 4:43don't even have what you would
consider to be ears. -
4:43 - 4:44So what does this mean,
-
4:44 - 4:47what is the impact
on all this marine life? -
4:48 - 4:50Perhaps the easiest thing
for scientists to assess -
4:50 - 4:52is the effect of acute noise,
-
4:52 - 4:54really loud sudden blasts
-
4:54 - 4:57that might cause physical injury
or hearing loss. -
4:57 - 5:01Beaked whales, for example,
can go into panicked dives -
5:01 - 5:03when exposed to loud noises,
-
5:03 - 5:06which may even give them
a condition similar to the bends. -
5:07 - 5:12In the 1960s, after the introduction
of more powerful sonar technologies, -
5:12 - 5:15the number of incidents of mass
whale strandings of beaked whales -
5:15 - 5:17went up dramatically.
-
5:18 - 5:20And it's not just marine mammals,
-
5:20 - 5:24fish, if they stray too close
to the source of a loud sound, -
5:24 - 5:27their fish bladders may actually explode.
-
5:27 - 5:29The airgun blasts from seismic surveys
-
5:29 - 5:32can mow down a swath of zooplankton,
-
5:32 - 5:35the tiny creatures near the base
of the food chain, -
5:35 - 5:38or can deform scallop larvae
while they're developing. -
5:39 - 5:42Well, what about chronic noise,
-
5:42 - 5:44the more pervasive issue
of raising background noise -
5:44 - 5:46from things like shipping?
-
5:46 - 5:50That can mask or drown out
the natural soundscape. -
5:50 - 5:53Some whales have responded to this
by literally changing their tune, -
5:53 - 5:58a little bit like people
shouting to be heard in a noisy nightclub. -
5:58 - 6:02And some fish will spend more time
patrolling their borders -
6:02 - 6:04and less time caring for their young,
-
6:04 - 6:06as if they're on high alert.
-
6:08 - 6:11Chronic noise can affect
people too, of course. -
6:11 - 6:14Studies have shown
that people living near busy airports -
6:14 - 6:16or really busy highways
-
6:16 - 6:19may have elevated levels
of cardiovascular disease. -
6:19 - 6:21And students living
under busy flight paths -
6:21 - 6:24may do worse on some educational tests.
-
6:24 - 6:27And even while I was
researching this subject, -
6:27 - 6:30they were actually blasting out
about three meters of solid granite -
6:30 - 6:33from the lot across from my home office
-
6:33 - 6:34to make room for a new house,
-
6:34 - 6:37and the constant jittering
of the rock hammer -
6:37 - 6:39was driving me completely insane.
-
6:39 - 6:42And whenever the workers
stopped for a moment, -
6:42 - 6:44I could feel my shoulders relax.
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6:45 - 6:48This effect has been seen in whales, too.
-
6:48 - 6:51After the terrorist attacks of 9/11,
-
6:51 - 6:54international shipping largely
ground to a halt for a little while -
6:54 - 6:57in the waters off the East Coast
of the United States. -
6:57 - 6:58And in that lull,
-
6:58 - 7:02researchers noticed that endangered
right whales in that region -
7:02 - 7:05had fewer chemical markers of stress
in their feces samples. -
7:06 - 7:09As one researcher I spoke to likes to say,
-
7:09 - 7:12"We were stressed,
but the whales weren't." -
7:14 - 7:15Now you have to remember,
-
7:15 - 7:17we have evolved to be a visual species.
-
7:17 - 7:19We really rely on our eyes.
-
7:19 - 7:21But marine life relies on sound
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7:21 - 7:24the way that we rely on sight.
-
7:25 - 7:28For them, a noisy ocean
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7:28 - 7:31may be as befuddling and even dangerous
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7:31 - 7:34as a dense fog is for us.
-
7:35 - 7:38And maybe sometimes that just means
being a little more stressed, -
7:38 - 7:41maybe sometimes it means
spending a little less time with the kids. -
7:41 - 7:44Maybe some species can adapt.
-
7:44 - 7:47But some researchers worry
that for endangered species -
7:47 - 7:48already on the brink,
-
7:48 - 7:51noise may be enough
to push them over the edge. -
7:52 - 7:55So take, for example,
the southern resident killer whales -
7:55 - 7:58that live in the waters
off my hometown of Vancouver. -
7:58 - 8:01There are only 75, maybe 76, animals left
-
8:01 - 8:02in this population.
-
8:02 - 8:05And they're facing a lot of challenges.
-
8:05 - 8:07There are chemical pollutants
in these waters, -
8:07 - 8:12and they are running low on the salmon
that they really rely on for food. -
8:12 - 8:13And then there's noise.
-
8:13 - 8:16When researchers studied these
and similar killer whales, -
8:16 - 8:20they found that they spend
between 18 and 25 percent less time -
8:20 - 8:23feeding in the presence
of loud boat noise. -
8:23 - 8:26And that's a lot for a species
that's already struggling -
8:26 - 8:28to find enough food to thrive.
-
8:30 - 8:33The good news, as I heard
from all the researchers I spoke to, -
8:33 - 8:37is that you can do something
relatively easily about ocean noise. -
8:37 - 8:40Unlike the wicked problems
of climate change -
8:40 - 8:41and ocean acidification,
-
8:41 - 8:44you can just dial down
the knob on ocean noise -
8:44 - 8:46and see almost immediate impacts.
-
8:47 - 8:50So for example, in 2017,
-
8:50 - 8:52the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority
-
8:52 - 8:55started asking ships to simply slow down
-
8:55 - 8:57when going through the Haro Strait,
-
8:57 - 9:00where the southern resident killer whales
are feeding in late summer. -
9:00 - 9:03Slower ships are quieter ships.
-
9:03 - 9:05And because it's Canada, you can just ask,
-
9:05 - 9:06it can be voluntary.
-
9:06 - 9:08(Laughter)
-
9:08 - 9:13(Applause)
-
9:13 - 9:16In that 2017 trial,
most of the ships complied, -
9:16 - 9:18adding about half an hour
to their travel time, -
9:18 - 9:21and reducing noise by about 1.2 decibels
-
9:21 - 9:24or 24 percent of noise intensity.
-
9:24 - 9:27This year, they decided
to extend the length of time -
9:27 - 9:30and the area over which
they're asking ships to slow down. -
9:30 - 9:33So hopefully that has
a positive impact for these whales. -
9:35 - 9:37In 2017, the Vancouver
Fraser Port Authority -
9:37 - 9:40also introduced discounts in docking fees
-
9:40 - 9:43for ships that are physically
designed to be quieter. -
9:43 - 9:46You know, weirdly, a lot of the noise
from a ship like this -
9:46 - 9:49comes from the popping of tiny bubbles
off the back of its propeller. -
9:50 - 9:53And you can simply design a ship
to do less of that -
9:53 - 9:55and to be quieter.
-
9:55 - 9:58The International Maritime Organization
has published a huge list of ways -
9:58 - 10:01that boats can be made quieter.
-
10:01 - 10:03And they also have a target
-
10:03 - 10:06of reducing carbon dioxide emissions
from global shipping -
10:06 - 10:08by 50 percent by 2050.
-
10:08 - 10:11And the great news is that
these two things go hand in hand. -
10:11 - 10:15On the whole, a more
efficient ship is a quieter ship. -
10:17 - 10:21People have also invented quieter ways
of hammering in the giant posts -
10:21 - 10:24needed for giant
wind turbines, like this one, -
10:24 - 10:27and gentler ways of doing seismic surveys.
-
10:27 - 10:30And there are some incentives
for using quieter technologies. -
10:30 - 10:32The European Union, for example,
-
10:32 - 10:35has a healthy marine system
directive for 2020. -
10:35 - 10:38And one of the ways that they define
a healthy marine system -
10:38 - 10:42is by how much noise
is going in those waters. -
10:42 - 10:45But on the whole, most waters
remain completely unregulated -
10:45 - 10:47when it comes to ocean noise.
-
10:48 - 10:50But again, most of
the scientists I spoke to -
10:50 - 10:53said that there's real momentum
right now in policy circles -
10:53 - 10:55to pay attention to this issue
-
10:55 - 10:57and maybe do something about this issue.
-
10:57 - 11:01We already know enough to say
that quieter seas are healthier seas. -
11:01 - 11:05But now scientists are really scrambling
to come up with the details. -
11:05 - 11:07Just how quiet do we need to be?
-
11:07 - 11:12And where are the best places
to make quiet or preserve quiet? -
11:12 - 11:14And how best can we hush our noise?
-
11:16 - 11:18And you know, I'm not trying to tell you
-
11:18 - 11:21that noise is the biggest
environmental problem on the planet -
11:21 - 11:22or even in the ocean.
-
11:22 - 11:26But the point is that humankind
has a lot of impacts -
11:26 - 11:28on our environmental system.
-
11:28 - 11:30And these impacts don't act in isolation.
-
11:30 - 11:33They act together, and they multiply.
-
11:33 - 11:35So even for the ones
that are not so obvious, -
11:35 - 11:38we really need to pay attention to them.
-
11:40 - 11:42I'll tell you about one last experiment,
-
11:42 - 11:43just because it's so beautiful.
-
11:44 - 11:45So Rob Williams,
-
11:45 - 11:48one of the researchers who works
on southern resident killer whales, -
11:48 - 11:50also does some work in Bali.
-
11:50 - 11:52And there, they celebrate
a Hindu tradition -
11:52 - 11:55called nyepi, or a day of silence.
-
11:55 - 11:58And this day, apparently,
is very strictly observed. -
11:58 - 12:00No planes take off from the airport,
-
12:00 - 12:01no boats go out fishing,
-
12:01 - 12:06the tourists are gently led off the beach
back into their hotel rooms. -
12:06 - 12:09And Rob Williams put some
hydrophones in the water there -
12:09 - 12:10to see what the impact was,
-
12:10 - 12:12and it was dramatic.
-
12:12 - 12:14Sound levels dropped
by six to nine decibels, -
12:14 - 12:18about the same
as in the waters after 9/11. -
12:18 - 12:21For an "acoustic prospector"
like Williams, -
12:21 - 12:22which is what he calls himself,
-
12:22 - 12:25this silence is golden.
-
12:25 - 12:28Now he and other researchers
can go back to this place -
12:28 - 12:30and see what the fish choose to do
-
12:30 - 12:32with all this additional
acoustic real estate. -
12:32 - 12:36(Soft bubbling)
-
12:36 - 12:39I like to think of them
having their own holiday, -
12:39 - 12:41feasting and finding mates.
-
12:41 - 12:44Celebrating their own spot of calm
-
12:44 - 12:46in an otherwise noisy world.
-
12:46 - 12:48Thank you.
-
12:48 - 12:50(Applause)
- Title:
- The dangers of a noisy ocean -- and how we can quiet it down
- Speaker:
- Nicola Jones
- Description:
-
The ocean is a naturally noisy place full of singing whales, grunting fish, snapping shrimp, cracking ice, wind and rain. But human-made sounds -- from ship engines to oil drilling -- have become an acute threat to marine life, says science journalist Nicola Jones. Watch (and listen) as she discusses the strange things that happen to underwater creatures in the face of ocean noise pollution -- and shares straightforward ways we can dial down the sound to see almost immediate impacts.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 13:03
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for The dangers of a noisy ocean -- and how we can quiet it down | ||
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for The dangers of a noisy ocean -- and how we can quiet it down | ||
Erin Gregory approved English subtitles for The dangers of a noisy ocean -- and how we can quiet it down | ||
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for The dangers of a noisy ocean -- and how we can quiet it down | ||
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for The dangers of a noisy ocean -- and how we can quiet it down | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz accepted English subtitles for The dangers of a noisy ocean -- and how we can quiet it down | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for The dangers of a noisy ocean -- and how we can quiet it down | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for The dangers of a noisy ocean -- and how we can quiet it down |