Tag: whales

Talking to whales

Is AI really up to speaking whale? “Artificial Intelligence” is is the shiny new toy that synthesizes gargantuan amounts of data and spits out the most likely condensation. For it to work, one needs to start with understanding…

Long distance calling!

While there are a number of varied species of baleen whales that are adapted to their particular habitats and natural histories, there are a few things they have in common; they’re all much larger than we are, they all graze…

Update on NOAA-NMFS Acoustical Guidelines

  On Monday we submitted our critique and suggestions for the NOAA-NMFS Acoustical Exposure Guidelines for “Level A takes.” These guidelines establish regulatory thresholds for just how much noise we humans can make before the damage to marine mammals requires…

A bit of game changing going on

In 1972 the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) was crafted as a response to scientific and public concern that certain marine mammals would become extinct unless they were protected by regulatory intervention. It was the first ecosystem based regulation –…

Flavors of noise

Noise impacts come in two flavors: Noise that is too loud, and noise that sounds awful. There is a degree of subjectivity under the “awful” category. For example; the awful din of your neighbor’s barking dog probably doesn’t meet their…

Bio-inspired communication signals

Of the many papers presented this week at the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers/Marine Technology Society (IEEE/MTS) Ocean conference two really stood out as possible solutions to the impacts of communication signals on marine mammals. These papers discussed using…