The first of this July we submitted our comments to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ocean Noise Strategy Roadmap. As submitted for public review we were generally pleased with the tone and essence of the work. It leaned…
Author: mstocker
Why Raven gave us language
The Ohlone, first people of Muwekma (the San Francisco area) tell us that Raven gave us language so that we might confound ourselves. We could use this shiny tool to tell tales, but we might also lose track of where these…
A short meditation Ocean Day
Our magnificent blue planet has again taken another turn around the sun to find us on “Ocean Day;” a moment to pause and consider the body of water that is the Mother of All Life on Earth. Today I will…
Report from Salt Lake City
Last week I attended the Acoustics Society Conference in Salt Lake City where I hosted a session on the Industrialization of the Ocean. There were a number of quality papers presented and some good ideas and comments presented on the…
Industrialization of the Ocean
Later this week I’ll be heading to the Acoustics Society meeting Salt Lake City. The meeting runs through the entire week with presentations and sessions on all matters acoustic – from Architectural Acoustics to Ultrasound Imaging. Animal Bioacoustics is among…
International Standards Meeting support request
The following is a request for support to attend an international standards meeting in England. Frequent Flier miles and financial support would be deeply appreciated! OCR is a member of the International Standards Organization (ISO) and anAmerican National Standards Institute…
NOAA Tinkers with acoustical standards to appease industry
Some improvements were recently made to the acoustical standards but most were “academic” and just promised to remove some of the ambiguity from the regulations. But a troubling component was the somewhat arbitrary tinkering with the Low Frequency exposure thresholds – substantiated with…
The Poignancy of Earth Day
This year I am finding it hard to compose a cheerful dispatch on Earth Day. I’ve always been mildly skeptical about taking a single day to express our love of this fabulous planet and all that she provides. This is…
Workshop on Ocean Noise Science, Regulations, and Practice
I’m just synthesizing the conversations, data, and information presented at a workshop co-sponsored by the California Gray Whale Coalition and Ocean Conservation Research at the Oakland offices of the Center for Biological Diversity on Monday, April 11. The purpose of…
NOAA-NMFS Acoustical Guidelines review
We’ve just submitted our comments on the final proposed changes for the “Acoustical Guidelines” from NOAA Fisheries (aka National Marine Fisheries Service or NMFS). These are the guidelines defining sound exposure “Level A” impacts – i.e. physical damage – from…