WEBVTT

00:00:01.375 --> 00:00:04.833
This is the sound of orcas
off the coast of Vancouver.

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:05.333 --> 00:00:10.417
(Whale chirps and squeaks)

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:11.417 --> 00:00:14.309
They make these fantastic sounds
not just to communicate,

00:00:14.333 --> 00:00:16.476
but also sometimes to echolocate,

00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:18.917
to find their way around and to find food.

00:00:19.417 --> 00:00:21.059
But that can be tricky sometimes,

00:00:21.083 --> 00:00:24.351
because, well, here is the sound
of a ship passing by,

00:00:24.375 --> 00:00:25.934
recorded underwater.

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:25.958 --> 00:00:31.042
(Screeching oscillating sound)

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:32.452 --> 00:00:34.643
You know, when we think
about marine pollution,

00:00:34.667 --> 00:00:36.684
I think we usually think about plastics.

00:00:36.708 --> 00:00:38.309
Maybe toxic chemicals,

00:00:38.333 --> 00:00:41.434
or even ocean acidification
from climate change.

00:00:41.458 --> 00:00:44.893
As a science journalist who often writes
about environmental issues,

00:00:44.917 --> 00:00:47.059
those are the things
that have passed my desk

00:00:47.083 --> 00:00:49.059
over the past 10 years or so.

00:00:49.083 --> 00:00:50.351
But as I recently realized

00:00:50.375 --> 00:00:53.434
when I was writing a feature
for the science journal "Nature,"

00:00:53.458 --> 00:00:56.726
noise is another
important kind of pollution.

00:00:56.750 --> 00:00:58.417
One that often gets ignored.

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:59.375 --> 00:01:02.393
You know, maybe you've heard
of the dark-skies movement,

00:01:02.417 --> 00:01:05.893
which aimed to raise awareness
of the issue of light pollution

00:01:05.917 --> 00:01:08.601
and create pockets of unilluminated night,

00:01:08.625 --> 00:01:10.518
so that people and animals

00:01:10.542 --> 00:01:15.726
could enjoy more natural cycles
of light and dark, night and day.

00:01:15.750 --> 00:01:17.059
Well, in much the same way,

00:01:17.083 --> 00:01:18.934
there are people now raising awareness

00:01:18.958 --> 00:01:20.518
of the issue of noise pollution

00:01:20.542 --> 00:01:23.726
and trying to create
pockets of quiet in the ocean,

00:01:23.750 --> 00:01:27.583
so that marine life can enjoy
a more natural soundscape.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:28.500 --> 00:01:29.809
This is important.

00:01:29.833 --> 00:01:32.393
Noise isn't just an irritation.

00:01:32.417 --> 00:01:34.518
It can cause chronic stress,

00:01:34.542 --> 00:01:36.268
or even physical injury.

00:01:36.292 --> 00:01:39.726
It can affect marine life's ability
to find food and mates

00:01:39.750 --> 00:01:42.583
and to listen out for predators and more.

00:01:43.792 --> 00:01:47.018
Think of all the sounds
we inject into the ocean.

00:01:47.042 --> 00:01:49.934
Perhaps one of the most dramatic
is the seismic surveys

00:01:49.958 --> 00:01:52.434
used to look for oil and gas.

00:01:52.458 --> 00:01:54.684
Air guns produce loud blasts,

00:01:54.708 --> 00:01:57.143
sometimes every 10 to 15 seconds,

00:01:57.167 --> 00:01:58.726
for months on end.

00:01:58.750 --> 00:02:00.809
And they use the reflections
of these sounds

00:02:00.833 --> 00:02:02.559
to map the ground beneath.

00:02:02.583 --> 00:02:04.042
It can sound like this.

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:05.917 --> 00:02:10.583
(Explosion sounds)

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:11.875 --> 00:02:15.184
Then, there's the sound
of the actual drilling for oil and gas,

00:02:15.208 --> 00:02:18.393
the construction of things
like offshore wind farms,

00:02:18.417 --> 00:02:19.684
sonar

00:02:19.708 --> 00:02:23.726
and of course, the nearly constant drone
from more than 50,000 ships

00:02:23.750 --> 00:02:25.667
in the global merchant fleet.

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:26.792 --> 00:02:29.268
Now the natural ocean itself
isn't exactly quiet.

00:02:29.292 --> 00:02:31.059
If you put your head under the water,

00:02:31.083 --> 00:02:34.643
you can hear cracking ice, wind, rain,

00:02:34.667 --> 00:02:36.768
singing whales, grunting fish,

00:02:36.792 --> 00:02:38.684
even snapping shrimp.

00:02:38.708 --> 00:02:40.726
Altogether, that can create a soundscape

00:02:40.750 --> 00:02:42.851
of maybe 50 to 100 decibels,

00:02:42.875 --> 00:02:45.809
depending on where and when you are.

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:45.833 --> 00:02:48.601
But mankind's addition to that
has been dramatic.

00:02:48.625 --> 00:02:53.101
It's estimated that shipping has added
three decibels of noise to the ocean

00:02:53.125 --> 00:02:55.976
every 10 years in recent decades.

00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:57.559
That might not sound like a lot,

00:02:57.583 --> 00:02:59.726
but decibels are on a logarithmic scale,

00:02:59.750 --> 00:03:01.643
like the Richter scale for earthquakes.

00:03:01.667 --> 00:03:05.309
So a small number can actually
represent a large change.

00:03:05.333 --> 00:03:09.684
Three decibels means a doubling
of noise intensity in the ocean.

00:03:09.708 --> 00:03:10.958
A doubling.

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:11.750 --> 00:03:13.143
And that's only an estimate,

00:03:13.167 --> 00:03:16.309
because no one is actually keeping track
of how noisy the ocean is

00:03:16.333 --> 00:03:18.226
all around the world.

00:03:18.250 --> 00:03:22.309
There is a body called
the International Quiet Ocean Experiment,

00:03:22.333 --> 00:03:23.601
and one of their missions

00:03:23.625 --> 00:03:26.125
is to try and plug the hole in that data.

00:03:27.542 --> 00:03:28.809
So for example, last year,

00:03:28.833 --> 00:03:32.309
they managed to convince
the Global Ocean Observation System

00:03:32.333 --> 00:03:33.601
to start including noise

00:03:33.625 --> 00:03:36.184
as one of their essential
variables for monitoring,

00:03:36.208 --> 00:03:39.000
alongside things
like temperature and salinity.

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:40.208 --> 00:03:41.476
We do know some things.

00:03:41.500 --> 00:03:45.101
We know that sonar can be as loud,
or nearly as loud,

00:03:45.125 --> 00:03:46.976
as an underwater volcano.

00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:51.184
A supertanker can be as loud
as the call of a blue whale.

00:03:51.208 --> 00:03:54.268
The noises we add to the ocean
come in all different frequencies

00:03:54.292 --> 00:03:56.351
and can travel great distances.

00:03:56.375 --> 00:03:59.393
Seismic surveys off the East Coast
of the United States

00:03:59.417 --> 00:04:02.768
can be heard in the middle
of the Atlantic.

00:04:02.792 --> 00:04:04.768
In the 1960s, they did an experiment

00:04:04.792 --> 00:04:08.018
where they set off a loud noise
off the coast of Perth, Australia,

00:04:08.042 --> 00:04:10.476
and they detected it
as far away as Bermuda,

00:04:10.500 --> 00:04:13.375
20,000 kilometers away.

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:15.917 --> 00:04:18.393
So what does all this
sound like to marine life,

00:04:18.417 --> 00:04:19.684
what do they hear?

00:04:19.708 --> 00:04:21.434
It's kind of difficult to describe.

00:04:21.458 --> 00:04:24.643
Sound travels further, faster in water
than it does in air,

00:04:24.667 --> 00:04:27.226
and it also packs a different punch.

00:04:27.250 --> 00:04:30.393
So sound of the same pressure
will have a different intensity

00:04:30.417 --> 00:04:33.893
whether you measure it
in the air or underwater.

00:04:33.917 --> 00:04:38.101
Then there's the fact that whales
don't have ears exactly like human ears.

00:04:38.125 --> 00:04:39.559
Creatures like zooplankton

00:04:39.583 --> 00:04:43.101
don't even have what you would
consider to be ears.

00:04:43.125 --> 00:04:44.393
So what does this mean,

00:04:44.417 --> 00:04:47.250
what is the impact
on all this marine life?

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:48.042 --> 00:04:50.393
Perhaps the easiest thing
for scientists to assess

00:04:50.417 --> 00:04:51.934
is the effect of acute noise,

00:04:51.958 --> 00:04:53.851
really loud sudden blasts

00:04:53.875 --> 00:04:56.625
that might cause physical injury
or hearing loss.

00:04:57.458 --> 00:05:00.893
Beaked whales, for example,
can go into panicked dives

00:05:00.917 --> 00:05:02.726
when exposed to loud noises,

00:05:02.750 --> 00:05:06.167
which may even give them
a condition similar to the bends.

00:05:07.167 --> 00:05:11.518
In the 1960s, after the introduction
of more powerful sonar technologies,

00:05:11.542 --> 00:05:15.434
the number of incidents of mass
whale strandings of beaked whales

00:05:15.458 --> 00:05:16.875
went up dramatically.

00:05:17.833 --> 00:05:19.601
And it's not just marine mammals,

00:05:19.625 --> 00:05:23.893
fish, if they stray too close
to the source of a loud sound,

00:05:23.917 --> 00:05:27.184
their fish bladders may actually explode.

00:05:27.208 --> 00:05:29.268
The airgun blasts from seismic surveys

00:05:29.292 --> 00:05:32.018
can mow down a swath of zooplankton,

00:05:32.042 --> 00:05:34.684
the tiny creatures near the base
of the food chain,

00:05:34.708 --> 00:05:37.958
or can deform scallop larvae
while they're developing.

NOTE Paragraph

00:05:39.417 --> 00:05:41.518
Well, what about chronic noise,

00:05:41.542 --> 00:05:44.268
the more pervasive issue
of raising background noise

00:05:44.292 --> 00:05:45.768
from things like shipping?

00:05:45.792 --> 00:05:49.643
That can mask or drown out
the natural soundscape.

00:05:49.667 --> 00:05:53.351
Some whales have responded to this
by literally changing their tune,

00:05:53.375 --> 00:05:57.768
a little bit like people
shouting to be heard in a noisy nightclub.

00:05:57.792 --> 00:06:01.518
And some fish will spend more time
patrolling their borders

00:06:01.542 --> 00:06:03.851
and less time caring for their young,

00:06:03.875 --> 00:06:05.708
as if they're on high alert.

NOTE Paragraph

00:06:07.750 --> 00:06:11.184
Chronic noise can affect
people too, of course.

00:06:11.208 --> 00:06:14.059
Studies have shown
that people living near busy airports

00:06:14.083 --> 00:06:15.601
or really busy highways

00:06:15.625 --> 00:06:18.893
may have elevated levels
of cardiovascular disease.

00:06:18.917 --> 00:06:21.309
And students living
under busy flight paths

00:06:21.333 --> 00:06:24.226
may do worse on some educational tests.

00:06:24.250 --> 00:06:27.184
And even while I was
researching this subject,

00:06:27.208 --> 00:06:30.351
they were actually blasting out
about three meters of solid granite

00:06:30.375 --> 00:06:32.768
from the lot across from my home office

00:06:32.792 --> 00:06:34.393
to make room for a new house,

00:06:34.417 --> 00:06:36.684
and the constant jittering
of the rock hammer

00:06:36.708 --> 00:06:39.434
was driving me completely insane.

00:06:39.458 --> 00:06:42.018
And whenever the workers
stopped for a moment,

00:06:42.042 --> 00:06:44.167
I could feel my shoulders relax.

NOTE Paragraph

00:06:45.250 --> 00:06:48.143
This effect has been seen in whales, too.

00:06:48.167 --> 00:06:50.768
After the terrorist attacks of 9/11,

00:06:50.792 --> 00:06:53.976
international shipping largely
ground to a halt for a little while

00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:57.059
in the waters off the East Coast
of the United States.

00:06:57.083 --> 00:06:58.351
And in that lull,

00:06:58.375 --> 00:07:01.643
researchers noticed that endangered
right whales in that region

00:07:01.667 --> 00:07:05.458
had fewer chemical markers of stress
in their feces samples.

00:07:06.333 --> 00:07:08.893
As one researcher I spoke to likes to say,

00:07:08.917 --> 00:07:11.625
"We were stressed,
but the whales weren't."

NOTE Paragraph

00:07:13.500 --> 00:07:14.768
Now you have to remember,

00:07:14.792 --> 00:07:17.018
we have evolved to be a visual species.

00:07:17.042 --> 00:07:19.268
We really rely on our eyes.

00:07:19.292 --> 00:07:21.434
But marine life relies on sound

00:07:21.458 --> 00:07:23.792
the way that we rely on sight.

00:07:25.458 --> 00:07:27.809
For them, a noisy ocean

00:07:27.833 --> 00:07:31.268
may be as befuddling and even dangerous

00:07:31.292 --> 00:07:33.542
as a dense fog is for us.

00:07:34.625 --> 00:07:38.226
And maybe sometimes that just means
being a little more stressed,

00:07:38.250 --> 00:07:41.434
maybe sometimes it means
spending a little less time with the kids.

00:07:41.458 --> 00:07:43.851
Maybe some species can adapt.

00:07:43.875 --> 00:07:46.601
But some researchers worry
that for endangered species

00:07:46.625 --> 00:07:48.018
already on the brink,

00:07:48.042 --> 00:07:50.667
noise may be enough
to push them over the edge.

NOTE Paragraph

00:07:51.917 --> 00:07:54.643
So take, for example,
the southern resident killer whales

00:07:54.667 --> 00:07:57.559
that live in the waters
off my hometown of Vancouver.

00:07:57.583 --> 00:08:00.934
There are only 75, maybe 76, animals left

00:08:00.958 --> 00:08:02.476
in this population.

00:08:02.500 --> 00:08:04.893
And they're facing a lot of challenges.

00:08:04.917 --> 00:08:07.434
There are chemical pollutants
in these waters,

00:08:07.458 --> 00:08:11.726
and they are running low on the salmon
that they really rely on for food.

00:08:11.750 --> 00:08:13.393
And then there's noise.

00:08:13.417 --> 00:08:16.143
When researchers studied these
and similar killer whales,

00:08:16.167 --> 00:08:20.351
they found that they spend
between 18 and 25 percent less time

00:08:20.375 --> 00:08:23.434
feeding in the presence
of loud boat noise.

00:08:23.458 --> 00:08:26.351
And that's a lot for a species
that's already struggling

00:08:26.375 --> 00:08:28.375
to find enough food to thrive.

NOTE Paragraph

00:08:29.583 --> 00:08:32.976
The good news, as I heard
from all the researchers I spoke to,

00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:36.976
is that you can do something
relatively easily about ocean noise.

00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:39.684
Unlike the wicked problems
of climate change

00:08:39.708 --> 00:08:41.309
and ocean acidification,

00:08:41.333 --> 00:08:43.976
you can just dial down
the knob on ocean noise

00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:46.167
and see almost immediate impacts.

00:08:47.250 --> 00:08:49.726
So for example, in 2017,

00:08:49.750 --> 00:08:52.101
the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority

00:08:52.125 --> 00:08:54.768
started asking ships to simply slow down

00:08:54.792 --> 00:08:56.684
when going through the Haro Strait,

00:08:56.708 --> 00:09:00.268
where the southern resident killer whales
are feeding in late summer.

00:09:00.292 --> 00:09:02.851
Slower ships are quieter ships.

00:09:02.875 --> 00:09:05.143
And because it's Canada, you can just ask,

00:09:05.167 --> 00:09:06.434
it can be voluntary.

NOTE Paragraph

00:09:06.458 --> 00:09:07.726
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:09:07.750 --> 00:09:12.643
(Applause)

NOTE Paragraph

00:09:12.667 --> 00:09:15.768
In that 2017 trial,
most of the ships complied,

00:09:15.792 --> 00:09:18.018
adding about half an hour
to their travel time,

00:09:18.042 --> 00:09:20.809
and reducing noise by about 1.2 decibels

00:09:20.833 --> 00:09:23.851
or 24 percent of noise intensity.

00:09:23.875 --> 00:09:26.643
This year, they decided
to extend the length of time

00:09:26.667 --> 00:09:29.559
and the area over which
they're asking ships to slow down.

00:09:29.583 --> 00:09:32.958
So hopefully that has
a positive impact for these whales.

NOTE Paragraph

00:09:34.542 --> 00:09:36.851
In 2017, the Vancouver
Fraser Port Authority

00:09:36.875 --> 00:09:39.768
also introduced discounts in docking fees

00:09:39.792 --> 00:09:43.018
for ships that are physically
designed to be quieter.

00:09:43.042 --> 00:09:45.809
You know, weirdly, a lot of the noise
from a ship like this

00:09:45.833 --> 00:09:49.476
comes from the popping of tiny bubbles
off the back of its propeller.

00:09:49.500 --> 00:09:52.601
And you can simply design a ship
to do less of that

00:09:52.625 --> 00:09:54.518
and to be quieter.

00:09:54.542 --> 00:09:58.309
The International Maritime Organization
has published a huge list of ways

00:09:58.333 --> 00:10:00.851
that boats can be made quieter.

00:10:00.875 --> 00:10:03.101
And they also have a target

00:10:03.125 --> 00:10:05.809
of reducing carbon dioxide emissions
from global shipping

00:10:05.833 --> 00:10:08.351
by 50 percent by 2050.

00:10:08.375 --> 00:10:11.434
And the great news is that
these two things go hand in hand.

00:10:11.458 --> 00:10:14.958
On the whole, a more
efficient ship is a quieter ship.

NOTE Paragraph

00:10:17.167 --> 00:10:21.059
People have also invented quieter ways
of hammering in the giant posts

00:10:21.083 --> 00:10:23.684
needed for giant
wind turbines, like this one,

00:10:23.708 --> 00:10:26.684
and gentler ways of doing seismic surveys.

00:10:26.708 --> 00:10:30.101
And there are some incentives
for using quieter technologies.

00:10:30.125 --> 00:10:31.851
The European Union, for example,

00:10:31.875 --> 00:10:35.351
has a healthy marine system
directive for 2020.

00:10:35.375 --> 00:10:38.268
And one of the ways that they define
a healthy marine system

00:10:38.292 --> 00:10:41.518
is by how much noise
is going in those waters.

00:10:41.542 --> 00:10:45.268
But on the whole, most waters
remain completely unregulated

00:10:45.292 --> 00:10:47.042
when it comes to ocean noise.

NOTE Paragraph

00:10:48.125 --> 00:10:50.184
But again, most of
the scientists I spoke to

00:10:50.208 --> 00:10:53.018
said that there's real momentum
right now in policy circles

00:10:53.042 --> 00:10:54.518
to pay attention to this issue

00:10:54.542 --> 00:10:57.226
and maybe do something about this issue.

00:10:57.250 --> 00:11:01.393
We already know enough to say
that quieter seas are healthier seas.

00:11:01.417 --> 00:11:05.434
But now scientists are really scrambling
to come up with the details.

00:11:05.458 --> 00:11:07.434
Just how quiet do we need to be?

00:11:07.458 --> 00:11:11.934
And where are the best places
to make quiet or preserve quiet?

00:11:11.958 --> 00:11:14.375
And how best can we hush our noise?

NOTE Paragraph

00:11:15.667 --> 00:11:17.601
And you know, I'm not trying to tell you

00:11:17.625 --> 00:11:20.518
that noise is the biggest
environmental problem on the planet

00:11:20.542 --> 00:11:21.809
or even in the ocean.

00:11:21.833 --> 00:11:25.643
But the point is that humankind
has a lot of impacts

00:11:25.667 --> 00:11:28.143
on our environmental system.

00:11:28.167 --> 00:11:30.309
And these impacts don't act in isolation.

00:11:30.333 --> 00:11:32.851
They act together, and they multiply.

00:11:32.875 --> 00:11:35.309
So even for the ones
that are not so obvious,

00:11:35.333 --> 00:11:38.000
we really need to pay attention to them.

NOTE Paragraph

00:11:39.917 --> 00:11:41.851
I'll tell you about one last experiment,

00:11:41.875 --> 00:11:43.476
just because it's so beautiful.

00:11:43.500 --> 00:11:44.768
So Rob Williams,

00:11:44.792 --> 00:11:48.018
one of the researchers who works
on southern resident killer whales,

00:11:48.042 --> 00:11:49.851
also does some work in Bali.

00:11:49.875 --> 00:11:51.934
And there, they celebrate
a Hindu tradition

00:11:51.958 --> 00:11:54.809
called nyepi, or a day of silence.

00:11:54.833 --> 00:11:57.768
And this day, apparently,
is very strictly observed.

00:11:57.792 --> 00:11:59.851
No planes take off from the airport,

00:11:59.875 --> 00:12:01.434
no boats go out fishing,

00:12:01.458 --> 00:12:06.018
the tourists are gently led off the beach
back into their hotel rooms.

00:12:06.042 --> 00:12:08.768
And Rob Williams put some
hydrophones in the water there

00:12:08.792 --> 00:12:10.184
to see what the impact was,

00:12:10.208 --> 00:12:11.518
and it was dramatic.

00:12:11.542 --> 00:12:14.268
Sound levels dropped
by six to nine decibels,

00:12:14.292 --> 00:12:17.643
about the same
as in the waters after 9/11.

00:12:17.667 --> 00:12:20.518
For an "acoustic prospector"
like Williams,

00:12:20.542 --> 00:12:22.434
which is what he calls himself,

00:12:22.458 --> 00:12:24.726
this silence is golden.

00:12:24.750 --> 00:12:28.018
Now he and other researchers
can go back to this place

00:12:28.042 --> 00:12:29.662
and see what the fish choose to do

00:12:29.686 --> 00:12:32.226
with all this additional
acoustic real estate.

NOTE Paragraph

00:12:32.250 --> 00:12:36.101
(Soft bubbling)

NOTE Paragraph

00:12:36.125 --> 00:12:39.101
I like to think of them
having their own holiday,

00:12:39.125 --> 00:12:41.434
feasting and finding mates.

00:12:41.458 --> 00:12:43.518
Celebrating their own spot of calm

00:12:43.542 --> 00:12:46.226
in an otherwise noisy world.

NOTE Paragraph

00:12:46.250 --> 00:12:47.518
Thank you.

NOTE Paragraph

00:12:47.542 --> 00:12:50.042
(Applause)