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 –…
It is amazing how many people in the field of ocean science and conservation credit Jacques Cousteau as the inspiration for their love of the sea. Just when color TV was migrating into the American living room Cousteau was offering…
In the early years of the ocean noise discussion there were heated debates about whether or not introduced noise was really harmful to marine life. Our understanding was shallow and the tools blunt. Even when animals washed ashore deafened, dead,…
This week Ker Than from National Geographic asked us for a critique on recommendations that came out of a study on the impacts of seismic surveys on Gray whales. The research was conducted by an “A Team” of scientists pulled…
I spent last week “hiding out” in San Francisco at an Acoustical Society of America (ASA) meeting. I’ve been a member and attending these meetings for about fifteen years and have seen both the society and the inquiry evolve much…
Quite a number of years ago Earth Island sponsored a “Literature Review” paper on marine animal hearing we called “Fish Ears” It was presented at the US Navy-sponsored “Environmental Consequences of Underwater Sound” (ECOUS) conference in San Antonio Texas and…
When ocean noise pollution first came up on the public sonar there were only a few handfuls of people engaged in the issue – all acrimoniously divided between the (mostly) industry/Navy noise-makers and the environmental/conservation biology interests who just wanted…
I’ve been attending the 2013 Aquatic Noise conference this week and it is no surprise to me that “out the gate” we were treated to some really important information – although given the aquatic theme of the conference it was…
Everybody is interested in Great White sharks, and scientists are no exception. One advantage of being credentialed is the opportunity to look a lot deeper into the subject using tools and equipment not readily available to the public. Satellite tagging…
Explore the history of sound and theory on our timeline: At OCR we talk a lot about sound and it’s importance to ocean life. Using sound to explore the depths of the ocean is akin to using light to…