This week in Budapest there is a gathering of ocean noise scientists, researchers, regulators, and educators all focused on marine bioacoustics. This is the third Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life conference convened by fish hearing specialist (and bioacoustic generalist) Art Popper and Fish sensory biologist Tony Hawkins.
There will be about 300 people attending – academics, physical oceanographers, marine mammologists, ichthyologists, sensory biologists, animal behaviorists, a handful of “the unclassifiable,” and a pile of undergrads – all from a broad track of interests representing international navies, the fossil fuel industry, universities, research institutes, and conservation organizations. The gathering comprises a very generous collection of the people involved in the ocean noise conversation, and a lot of up-and-coming students who will be picking up the ball as we move forward.
We’ll be covering many of the critical and developing topics in the field, including Hearing and Sound Communication, Effects of Sound on Behavior, Soundscape and Soundsource Characterization, and Assessing, Monitoring and Mitigating for impacts. With all of the august voices in the room I anticipate that much will get accomplished, and many new strategies will get launched.
As I look through the conference program I am pretty excited about the outcomes that this gathering will generate. When you get this many of the leading voices in the room, great things are bound to happen