This week I have been hopping in and out of the Society of Marine Mammologists conference in San Francisco. This is an international event and brings mostly scientists from around the world to discuss all things Marine Mammal –…
Expert Opinions
Dolphin Speak
When we humans think of language it is typically in terms of transferrable meaning – “this sound means this idea or this thing.” This is likely an evolutionary adaptation incorporating our dependence on visuality and the consequences of time…
The Soul of the Sea
It is said that the origin of the word “soul” travels through the idea of “coming from or belonging to the sea,” because the sea was considered the stopping place of the soul before birth and after death. While there…
Regulators rapidly kicking the can down the road
I’ve just returned from Washington DC educating legislators and questioning regulators over an ominous situation in the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Since 2014 there has been a “full court press” by the oil industry and their friends in…
Reasons for BOEM’s industry-weighted policy decisions are becoming clear
Last week investigative reporter David Hammer published a report on how the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) appears to be sitting on their hands when it comes to performing the environmental enforcement aspect of…
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…
US Navy- NMFS settlement protecting whales and dolphins
This week started off with a bang and it continues with a lot of whooshing sounds. On Monday the Federal Court entered a ruling in our favor against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for approving the US Navy’s request…
Noise regulated as a pollutant?
Just last week a paper was published in Frontiers in Ecology and Environment – and explained in Nature’s International Weekly Journal of Science – proposing that noise pollution – and particularly noise pollution from seismic airgun surveys – be qualified…
Ocean Noise Playpen
Last month we installed an interactive exhibit at “Environmental Volunteers” interpretive center in the Palo Alto Baylands. It was a delight working with E-Vols Educational Director Brittany Sabol and Executive Director D Allen Berkowitz to craft an interactive screen-driven…