The latest edition to our video series on bioacoustics discusses the distinctions between Mysticetes and Odontocetes (whales, porpoises, and dolphins). http://ocr.org/portfolio/intro-to-odontocetes-mysticetes/ Enjoy!
New discovery of songful bowheads
It’s always a delight to learn something new about ocean life. Some 40 years ago whale researcher Roger Payne came to understand that Humpback whales sang complex, beautiful, and patterned songs. Their haunting melodies released in an LP as “The…
Bio-acoustics Video Series
After a bit of time in development we are finally launching our Bioacoustics Video Series. Accessible from both the OCR website as well as for general distribution on the OCR YouTube channel, these pieces are (and will be) mini-lectures on…
NYT Report of whales “self-mitigating” for noise exposure a bit misleading.
A New York Times article is making the rounds about how a captive false killer whale has demonstrated a mechanism for attenuating potentially damaging noises. Paul Nachtigall, the principal investigator of the study has conditioned the subject to de-sensitize its…
Unabashed U.S. Navy Environmental Impact Statements
A few weeks ago we put out a newsletter commenting on the candor of the U.S. Navy in the release of their Hawaii-Southern California Testing and Training Range “Draft Environmental Impact Statement (HSTT-DEIS). I’ve just sent in our comment letter…
Singing fish lead to conservation programs
OCR associate and marine biologist Mario Rivera has received coverage in Costa Rica’s “El Financiero” for his work with singing fish. He is using sound-pattern recognition software to identify breeding aggregations of fish – in this case “weakfish” (Cynoscion squamipinnis) to determine…
Moves to open the Atlantic coast to fossil fuel extraction
We have just submitted our comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the “Atlantic Geological and Geophysical Activities.” The proposals reviewed in the DEIS are for the exploration and mapping of the Mid-Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf for oil…
Oceans Day only comes once a year
It always amuses me when as a culture we take pause for a moment to focus on something or someone that has been instrumental to our existence or way of life. Mother’s Day comes to mind, as does Memorial Day.…
Oil industry sponsored workshop on ocean noise
About ten years ago I attended a workshop sponsored by the US Navy on the “Environmental Consequences of Underwater Sound” (ECOUS) attended by scientists, geophysicists, regulators, Navy personnel, and a couple of us from the environmental NGO community (eNGO’s). We…