Hi everyone, sorry for the mix-up with this week's post. Substack does this odd thing of reverting back to an earlier draft if you're working on two different computers. I usually catch it, but for the first time in more than five years of writing the Field Guide I've had to send out a corrected post (on my phone while traveling). Thanks for your understanding. - Jason
Thanks for your excellent coverage of a huge problem that rarely gets the press it should be getting. The abundant life in the ocean is so severely threatened by this, and so few people understand. I cared for two beaked whale calves who were likely victims of sonar testing. They didn't survive.
Thank you, Dawn, for both the comment and the vital, heartbreaking work you've done for animals. I wish there was an easier solution for sonar violence than asking militaries to rein in the violence.
I always had a feeling this was a problem. I live in a city next to the sea, and during the summer months I enjoy the beach and the water to get some relief from the heat. I usually go very early in the morning so I can be on my way back home when the buzzing jet skis start riding along the coast. They bother me and I always thought they were probably very annoying for the marine life in the area. I didn't expect the problem was at this scale.
But hey, there's an upside! All that global commerce means I can buy the latest iPhone every year...
Indeed, Ramiro. Those jet-skis and container ships with our phones and beach towels are all part of a global noise machine, doing to ocean ears what we're doing everywhere to everything: disruption. Thanks very much for the note.
Such an excellent deep dive (lol) into this issue, Jason. It's uplifting to remember that it *can* be changed quickly -- and even has. We don't need a worldwide disaster, just political will! (Which is its own worldwide disaster but still ...)
The litany of worldwide disasters... We seem to live in a time in which whatever word follows "worldwide" seems to lean toward disaster. Which maybe says something about our social capacity to work well at great scale. But yes, so much can pretty simply just be stopped, like prospecting for new oil/gas with seismic airguns at sea, or growing corn for ethanol on land. Thanks, Nia.
Thank you, Erica. There's more info coming, but this first piece does give a decent overview. The problem is multifaceted, so I hope you'll find the next two essays interesting too.
This has given me an entirely different angle to think about what conservation means in the modern age. The issue of underwater noise first came to my attention a few weeks ago as I was working through a marine sciences course, in relation to navy experiments using sonar that appeared to be disrupting beaked whale’s behavior and resulting in dead whale’s washed up exhibiting symptoms that seemed analogous to “the bends” that humans get from surfacing too quickly.
Especially interesting to me was the mention of seismic exploration as a source of noise pollution, an activity that is often done in the name of gaining a better understanding of our planet — how does one weigh the benefits of such an undertaking in regards to its pollutive effect on the marine soundscape? Is it better to leave some questions unanswered in the name of conservation? Of course I don’t have all the answers, but you have introduced a lot of interesting questions for me to consider, and I appreciate your perspective!
Thanks, Roman. I'll go deeper in the next two ocean noise essays, so hopefully you'll find something there to think about too. It's a multifaceted problem, with multiple solutions, some much more feasible than others. Sonar might be the most intractable, esp in military usage. As for seismic studies, I think a lot can go away as the world transitions from fossil fuels, and last I saw there was an alternative less harmful technology being developed. But there needs to be incentives to make the right decisions. Anyway, stay tuned for more on the subject, and thanks again for the thoughtful comment.
Thank you for yet another excellent, thought-provoking piece, Jason. There’s so much to reflect on in this.
I grew up on a peninsula in England and spent my childhood summers on another peninsula – the Llŷn Peninsula in Wales. Whenever possible, I headed down the cliffs to the coves to play in the waves, and I still love swimming in the sea decades later (although these days my local sea has a very different character to the one I grew up with). I have strong memories of the underwater soundscape that my human ears detected – the low, muffled booms and odd echoing clink. Your analogies, like the one about the leaf blower, really helped me to stretch beyond my own experiences towards imagining and even feeling what it could be like for those who live permanently in the sea to be subjected to our din. How awful that cortisol levels in whales are typically high because of our behaviour, and that we chase turtles and fish away from the shallows by swimming there. This has given me plenty to think about as a sea swimmer, so thank you; it’s so important that we are constantly called to reflect on the extent to which we might be contributing to that landscape of fear. And those poor dolphins in the Black Sea war zone. That’s so awful.
The quotes you include are also really helpful. I love the one from the Guardian article about the extent of the damage caused by our noise. Such an important reminder of the hubris in assuming that if we can’t see or hear something, it isn’t happening. We are so good (bad) at turning our own ignorance and limitations into sacrifice zones. This puts a new twist for me on that classic thought experiment about the tree falling in a forest. And… I smiled when I read your recommendations at the end of the article and came across Bill McKibben’s musings on whether “the big brain was a sound adaptation" :). Big brains plus big hearts forging pathways towards collectively quieting down. Let’s hope so.
Thank you, Suzanne. I'm impressed and fascinated to hear that you have distinct memories of the underwater soundscape of your youth. You were really listening where most of us simply pass through.
And yes, I think if we all had a true sense of our landscape of fear (rather than blindly fearing the landscape), we'd love and care about life much more than we do.
I really like this: "We are so good (bad) at turning our own ignorance and limitations into sacrifice zones." Very true.
Thanks for paying such good attention to the writing, and to the world.
Hi everyone, sorry for the mix-up with this week's post. Substack does this odd thing of reverting back to an earlier draft if you're working on two different computers. I usually catch it, but for the first time in more than five years of writing the Field Guide I've had to send out a corrected post (on my phone while traveling). Thanks for your understanding. - Jason
Thanks for your excellent coverage of a huge problem that rarely gets the press it should be getting. The abundant life in the ocean is so severely threatened by this, and so few people understand. I cared for two beaked whale calves who were likely victims of sonar testing. They didn't survive.
Thank you, Dawn, for both the comment and the vital, heartbreaking work you've done for animals. I wish there was an easier solution for sonar violence than asking militaries to rein in the violence.
I always had a feeling this was a problem. I live in a city next to the sea, and during the summer months I enjoy the beach and the water to get some relief from the heat. I usually go very early in the morning so I can be on my way back home when the buzzing jet skis start riding along the coast. They bother me and I always thought they were probably very annoying for the marine life in the area. I didn't expect the problem was at this scale.
But hey, there's an upside! All that global commerce means I can buy the latest iPhone every year...
Indeed, Ramiro. Those jet-skis and container ships with our phones and beach towels are all part of a global noise machine, doing to ocean ears what we're doing everywhere to everything: disruption. Thanks very much for the note.
Such an excellent deep dive (lol) into this issue, Jason. It's uplifting to remember that it *can* be changed quickly -- and even has. We don't need a worldwide disaster, just political will! (Which is its own worldwide disaster but still ...)
The litany of worldwide disasters... We seem to live in a time in which whatever word follows "worldwide" seems to lean toward disaster. Which maybe says something about our social capacity to work well at great scale. But yes, so much can pretty simply just be stopped, like prospecting for new oil/gas with seismic airguns at sea, or growing corn for ethanol on land. Thanks, Nia.
The poor whales 😣
Indeed. While we've largely stopped whaling, we haven't stopped the war on whales, with violent noise as one of our primary weapons.
Thanks for this essay. I learned a lot that I didn't know about ocean noise-pollution. Enjoy your holiday!
Thank you, Erica. There's more info coming, but this first piece does give a decent overview. The problem is multifaceted, so I hope you'll find the next two essays interesting too.
Much appreciated! I'd like to be better informed on this.
This has given me an entirely different angle to think about what conservation means in the modern age. The issue of underwater noise first came to my attention a few weeks ago as I was working through a marine sciences course, in relation to navy experiments using sonar that appeared to be disrupting beaked whale’s behavior and resulting in dead whale’s washed up exhibiting symptoms that seemed analogous to “the bends” that humans get from surfacing too quickly.
Especially interesting to me was the mention of seismic exploration as a source of noise pollution, an activity that is often done in the name of gaining a better understanding of our planet — how does one weigh the benefits of such an undertaking in regards to its pollutive effect on the marine soundscape? Is it better to leave some questions unanswered in the name of conservation? Of course I don’t have all the answers, but you have introduced a lot of interesting questions for me to consider, and I appreciate your perspective!
Thanks, Roman. I'll go deeper in the next two ocean noise essays, so hopefully you'll find something there to think about too. It's a multifaceted problem, with multiple solutions, some much more feasible than others. Sonar might be the most intractable, esp in military usage. As for seismic studies, I think a lot can go away as the world transitions from fossil fuels, and last I saw there was an alternative less harmful technology being developed. But there needs to be incentives to make the right decisions. Anyway, stay tuned for more on the subject, and thanks again for the thoughtful comment.
Thank you for yet another excellent, thought-provoking piece, Jason. There’s so much to reflect on in this.
I grew up on a peninsula in England and spent my childhood summers on another peninsula – the Llŷn Peninsula in Wales. Whenever possible, I headed down the cliffs to the coves to play in the waves, and I still love swimming in the sea decades later (although these days my local sea has a very different character to the one I grew up with). I have strong memories of the underwater soundscape that my human ears detected – the low, muffled booms and odd echoing clink. Your analogies, like the one about the leaf blower, really helped me to stretch beyond my own experiences towards imagining and even feeling what it could be like for those who live permanently in the sea to be subjected to our din. How awful that cortisol levels in whales are typically high because of our behaviour, and that we chase turtles and fish away from the shallows by swimming there. This has given me plenty to think about as a sea swimmer, so thank you; it’s so important that we are constantly called to reflect on the extent to which we might be contributing to that landscape of fear. And those poor dolphins in the Black Sea war zone. That’s so awful.
The quotes you include are also really helpful. I love the one from the Guardian article about the extent of the damage caused by our noise. Such an important reminder of the hubris in assuming that if we can’t see or hear something, it isn’t happening. We are so good (bad) at turning our own ignorance and limitations into sacrifice zones. This puts a new twist for me on that classic thought experiment about the tree falling in a forest. And… I smiled when I read your recommendations at the end of the article and came across Bill McKibben’s musings on whether “the big brain was a sound adaptation" :). Big brains plus big hearts forging pathways towards collectively quieting down. Let’s hope so.
Thank you, Suzanne. I'm impressed and fascinated to hear that you have distinct memories of the underwater soundscape of your youth. You were really listening where most of us simply pass through.
And yes, I think if we all had a true sense of our landscape of fear (rather than blindly fearing the landscape), we'd love and care about life much more than we do.
I really like this: "We are so good (bad) at turning our own ignorance and limitations into sacrifice zones." Very true.
Thanks for paying such good attention to the writing, and to the world.