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With his boats or his drilling rigs, man makes a lot of noise in the seas and oceans. There is evidence that animals can suffer from it. But how much? How to protect marine wildlife? Diving answers with bioacoustician Hervé Glotin.
We invite you today to an immersion for an underwater walk. Obviously a soundtrack. Contrary to what we have long been able to say and hear, the sea is absolutely not a world of silence. On the contrary, it is filled with all kinds of noises. First there are marine animals, which emit sounds, to communicate, find their partner tens or even hundreds of kilometers away, because the sounds travel very far in the water. These sounds can also be used for orientation. But there are also a lot of man-made noises. Boats with their engines, submarines with their sonars, drilling rigs, or wind turbines at sea… all of this produces an enormous din. Animals find it difficult to get along, therefore to find each other, and to reproduce. They may even go downright deaf. We know that many marine mammals, dolphins, sperm whales, or whales, wash up on the beaches because of noise pollution. It is urgent to make less noise underwater to limit the dramatic decline of biodiversity. Regulations in this area are just beginning to take shape, thanks to collaborations between scientists and lawyers.
With Herve Glotinbioacoustician for the work Noise at sea, development of maritime activities and protection of marine fauna, published by Éditions Quae and Frederick Schneiderlecturer in public law at the University of Toulon.