Norwegian shipyard Ulstein recently delivered the first of two super seismic vessels to the geophysical company CGGVeritas. These vessels are designed to tow seismic survey airgun and streamer arrays for deepwater offshore fossil fuel exploration and are outfitted for arctic…
A ‘new’ source of data for sub-lethal noise impacts!
One of the more vexing challenges in understanding the effects of noise on marine animals has to do with assessing the “sub-lethal” impacts that compromise biological functions. These include the impacts from noises that mask or hide biologically significant signals,…
OCR on KZYX Thursday Sept. 16 @ 7 pm PST
I’ll be featured in and interview by Debra Scott from KZYX this evening. This station covers the Northern California communities of Mendocino, Willits, Ukiah, and Ft. Bragg, but you can “beam in on the web” through this Live Radio connection.…
Is the ocean really getting louder?
OCR mathematician Tom Reuterdahl and I have just finished a modeling exercise aimed at determining how loud the ocean was prior to industrial whaling. The premise of the investigation is that while some 50,000 cargo ships are now plying the…
An unusual climate of cooperation
I find myself again in Washington DC, this time for a workshop on “Marine Mammals and Sound” sponsored by an interagency group which includes NOAA, the Minerals Management Service, and the Navy. (Interagency cooperation will be one of the hallmarks…
A little louder please, I can’t hear you.
Mark Spalding from The Ocean Foundation sent us an article in Science Daily this week which discusses the findings of Susan Parks and colleagues regarding how North American Right whales are increasing their vocalization levels to overcome the background noise…
Ocean Gala – Peter Benchley Awards
Ocean conservation allies and colleagues from the Blue Frontier Campaign are sponsoring the annual “Peter Benchley Awards,” a gala event to recognize leading ocean heroes. This year’s recipients include NOAA Secretary Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Academy Award winning producer Louis Psihoyos…
A Psalm for World Ocean Day 2010
Today is World Ocean Day. Proposed and observed since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and designated in 2009 by the United Nations to celebrate the ocean. But given the disaster currently expanding into the Gulf of Mexico,…
Offshore Oil – Bigger than Texas!
I’ve just returned from the annual Offshore Technologies Conference in Houston, Texas. Texas is known for BIG and this event was no exception: Some 40,000 people from around the world were checking out some of the largest single hunks of…