Small reductions in cargo vessel speed substantially reduce noise impacts to marine mammals
Published: 23 June 2023
New research involving SBOHVM and UofG Life Sciences Chazz Findlay, Sofie Spatharis, Ashley LeVin and Dom McCafferty has shown that reducing the speed of cargo vessels at sea can significantly reduce the impact on our important marine mammals.
New research involving SBOHVM and UofG Life Sciences Chazz Findlay, Sofie Spatharis, Ashley LeVin and Dom McCafferty has shown that reducing the speed of cargo vessels at sea can significantly reduce the impact on our important marine mammals.
More than 80% of international trade is conducted by motorised vessels at sea, making shipping the most widespread human noise source in marine ecosystems. Mounting evidence shows that vessel noise has detrimental effects on fish, invertebrates, and marine mammals that may culminate in population-level consequences.
Marine mammals are of particular concern as many species rely on hearing as their primary sense for foraging, orienting, detecting predators, and communicating. Noise from shipping can affect marine mammals in several ways. Underwater radiated noise from vessels can directly affect behavior via disruption to foraging, nursing, or resting and may mask acoustic cues important for social interactions and migration
The study, published in Sciences Advances shows that scalable local speed reductions in sensitive areas along with the re-routing of vessels could significantly benefit marine wildlife.
First published: 23 June 2023
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