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Court adds new hurdles for BC oil sands pipeline as separate lawsuit calls for emergency orca protections
November 13, 2018Over the past decade, plans for a big expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline in British Columbia have garnered pushback from ocean advocates. In late 2016, the plan gained its final approval from the Canadian government (see AEI coverage), but in late August, a Federal Appeals Court overturned that approval, citing the government’s failure to assess the effects […]
BC ship-quieting study stymied by lack of orcas
January 4, 2018Last fall’s innovative 2-month voluntary slow-down of ships traveling to and from the Port of Vancouver was successful on one count—average overall shipping noise was reduced by 44%—but a stark absence of the normally abundant resident orcas stymied the equally important second line of inquiry: how would reducing the noise level, but spreading more moderate noise over longer time periods, […]
Fishermen blasting “seal bombs” 30,000 times a month off Southern California
November 30, 2017They look small, about the size of a “cherry bomb” firecracker. They’re legal, exempt from the Marine Mammal Protection Act thanks to their functional purpose: protecting fishermen’s nets from seals and cetaceans poaching their catches, including squid, anchovies, and tuna. But they are loud and used freely in waters off southern California. Divers report physical pressure waves hitting them from up […]
Good news and bad news on BC shipping traffic
December 30, 2016In the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas, a northern pipeline was rejected and a southern one approved; meanwhile, ongoing research aims to identify the noisiest ships and help inform new regulations that could reduce overall noise levels.
New gas port proposals adding injury to insult in BC
February 24, 2016The British Columbia coast is a wild territory, yet one pockmarked with major shipping facilities. Four related ports stretch down the coast from Prince Rupert, sending coal, grain, and other products to Asian markets and south to the U.S. and beyond. Canadian First Nations and environmental groups have been raising alarms about the cumulative impacts of increased development […]
Ocean listening stations sprouting around US
November 17, 2015A new network of long-term acoustic monitoring stations is being deployed by NOAA-funded researchers in ocean waters from Massachusetts to the Arctic and Samoa. The Ocean Noise Reference Station (ONRS) Network represents the next step in data collection for NOAA, which has increased its focus on ocean noise in recent years. Agencies, researchers, and NGOs are all concerned about the effects of chronic […]
New paper pinpoints “opportunity sites” for acoustic habitat protection near proposed oil sands shipping route
October 8, 2015AEI lay summary of Rob Williams, Christine Erbe, Erin Ashe, Christopher Clark. Quiet(er) marine protected areas. Marine Pollution Bulletin (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ j.marpolbul.2015.09.012 View or download paper online Over the past decade or so, concern about ocean noise has expanded from its initial focus injuries and deaths caused by periodic loud events, such as sonar or seismic surveys. Many researchers […]
Pipeline expansion to add 700 tanker transits in already-saturated southern BC waters
May 19, 2015Bioacousticians and marine advocates have been closely following plans for the Northern Gateway pipeline in British Columbia, which would greatly increase ship traffic in some coastal waterways that are relatively quiet so far; see previous AEInews coverage. But another pipeline project, farther along in the permitting process, could push the already stressed waters of southern […]
Listening array documenting rare natural quiet on BC coast, in face of development proposals
April 16, 2015PacificWild, a British Columbian environmental organization, has deployed a network of 6 hydrophones in waters along the northern coast of that province. This region of offshore islands and dramatic forested fjords is relatively wild, and quiet, especially as compared to the shipping-intensive region in southern BC around Vancouver Island and nearby Puget Sound in Washington […]
NJ sues Feds over academic seismic survey planned for July
July 7, 2014The State of New Jersey has gone to federal court to block a seismic survey planned for this month fifteen miles offshore. The survey, funded by the National Science Foundation, received its final permits from the National Marine Fisheries Service last week; the permit (similar to those issued routinely for oil and gas exploration or […]
New paper details the acoustic quality of critical whale habitats
November 27, 2013AEI lay summary of:R. Williams, C.W. Clark, D. Ponirakis, and E. Ashe. Acoustic quality of critical habitats for three threatened whale populations. Animal Conservation (2013). Innovative research along the coast of British Columbia has quantified the degree to which shipping noise is reducing the distance at which whale vocalizations can be heard. This is one […]
Detailed new maps highlight excessive shipping noise in Puget Sound, BC coast
January 6, 2013In the wake of NOAA’s large-scale ocean noise mapping project, two much more detailed studies from the Pacific Northwest have highlighted the likelihood that current shipping noise is already pushing the limits of what biologists think many ocean creatures can cope with. The first study recorded the sound from several types of boats and ships traversing […]
Listening to the undersea world
August 8, 2012A great post over on Artemia, a University of British Columbia blog, from Jessi Lehman, reflecting on listening to the LIDO online undersea sound streams. Go read the whole thing for sure! A teaser: …These ocean observatory networks are about science and whale conservation but also about industry, development, and geopolitics. But I want to […]
Ocean listening stations go online; US Navy aims to filter out its activities
January 22, 2012A growing network of ocean observatories are adding hydrophones to their arrays of instruments, opening ears into the undersea world. The data has been shared widely among scientists for the past few years, and a website, Listening to the Deep Ocean Environment, is now compiling the real-time acoustic streams from 15 of the observatories, allowing […]
American Society for Acoustic Ecology Symposium July 9-11
June 10, 2010The American Society for Acoustic Ecology is pleased to announce ASAE Chicago: Listening for the Future. This is the first-ever national gathering of the ASAE membership and the general public. Hosted by the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology and the World Listening Project, Listening for the Future will take place from July 9-11, 2010. We […]
AEI annual report, Ocean Noise 2009 is now available
March 15, 2010The Acoustic Ecology Institute has published Ocean Noise 2009, the fourth in its annual series of reports reviewing new research and regulatory developments in ocean noise. AEI’s annual recaps are widely anticipated and circulated among ocean noise scientists and regulators, as well as within NGO and journalist communities. The report can be viewed or downloaded […]
Canadian Survey Receives Go-Ahead from Court
August 27, 2009A Canadian court has declined to issue a stay to prevent the vents survey from continuing. The ship has reached the research area, and has begun the planned project, which involves laying bottom-mounted receivers and doing ten days of airgun shots. In the course of the short legal brouhaha, it came out that the Canadian […]
Canadian Academic Seismic Survey Targeted by EcoJustice
August 17, 2009UPDATE (8/27): A Canadian court has declined to issue a stay to prevent the vents survey from continuing. The ship is en route to the area, and will continue with the planned research project; the first step will be laying bottom-mounted receivers, before commencing ten days of seismic airgun operations during September. In the course […]
BC Oil Tanker Port Planned in Rare Acoustically Quiet Coastal Zone
February 5, 2009Plans to build a pipeline to move the fruits of Alberta’s oil fields and oil sands to the deepwater port of Kitimat, in order to ship it to Asia, are spurring widespread concerns among residents and researchers in northern British Columbia. In addition to fears of a tanker accident and rural resistence to the pipeline, […]
Wind Turbine Syndrome: Can Wind Farms Make People Sick?
April 28, 2008While reports of nearby industrial wind farms causing annoyance with their noise are becoming fairly common, a physician who has been looking at the most severe complaints has coined a phrase: “wind turbine syndrome.” Nina Pierpont, a New York pediatrician who has taught at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, has found a […]