contacts:
Dr. Yolanda Alaniz
Laura Rojas Ortega

Pacific Islands Ocean Noise Coalition

contact: Susan Millward

Commentary on Ocean Noise

Regional Ocean Noise Issues

• March 2007 - Report of the Secretary General on Oceans and the Law of the Sea

• June 2006 - United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea

• November 2005 - UN Resolution Encouraging Consideration of Impacts of Ocean Noise on Living Marine Resources

• June 2004 -Report of the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission Annex K

• September 2004 - European Parliament Resolution on high-intensity active naval sonars

• November 2004 - Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS)

• November 2004 - World Conservation Union Resolution on Undersea Noise Pollution

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• U.S. Navy Response Letter to Senator Warner (R-VA) regarding stranding incidents in the Bahamas

• California Coastal Commission Comments on the effects of Anthropogenic Noise on Marine Mammals

• Underwater Noise: Death Knell of our Oceans? By Dr. Linda Weilgart, Dalhousie University - September 2005

• Ocean Noise: Adverse Impacts on Fish and Fisheries

• Stranding Tables - marine mammal stranding incidents associated with ocean noise

• Ocean Noise In the News

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• Balcomb, K. and Claridge, D.  A Mass Stranding of Cetaceans Caused by Naval Sonar in the Bahamas.  2001. Bahamas J. of Science 8 (2), 2-12

• Cox, T.M., et. al., Why beaked whales? Report of workshop to understand the impacts of anthropogenic sound.   2006.  J. Cetacean Res. Manag. (7), 177 -187

• Dotinga, H. and Elferink, A.  Acoustic Pollution in the Oceans: The Search for Legal Standards. 2000. Ocean Development & International Law, 31, 151–182

• Engås, A. et. al.  Effects of seismic shooting on local abundance and catch rates of cod (Gadus morhua) and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus).  1996. Can. J. Aquat. Sci. 53, 2238-2249

• Fernandez, A., et. al.  “Gas and fat embolic syndrome” involving a mass stranding of beaked whales (Family Ziphiidae) exposed to anthropogenic sonar signals.  2005. Vet Pathol 42, 446–457

• Finneran, J. et. al.  Temporary threshold shift in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) exposed to mid-frequency tones. 2005.  J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 118 (4), 2696-2705

• Frantzis, A. Does Acoustic Testing Strand Whales? 1998. Nature 392, 29

• Hildebrand, J.   Impacts of anthropogenic sound. In Marine mammal research: conservation beyond crisis.  Ed. by J.E. Reynolds III, W.F. Perrin, R.R. Reeves, S. Montgomery and T.J. Ragen. 2005.  Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 101-124

• Jepson, P. D., et. al.  Gas-bubble lesions in stranded cetaceans.  2003. Nature 425, 575-576

• MacKenzie, D. Seismic Surveys may kill Giant Squid.  2004.  New Scientist.com. 22 September

• Madsen, P., et. al.  Quantitative measures of air-gun pulses recorded on sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) using acoustic tags during controlled exposure experiments.  2006.  Acoust. Soc. Am.  120 (4), 2366-2379 

• McCauley, R.D., et. al.   High intensity anthropogenic sound damages fish ears.  2003. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 113 (1), 638-642

• McDonald, M. et. al.  Increases in deep ocean ambient noise in the Northeast Pacific west of San Nicolas Island, California.   2006.  Acoust. Soc. Am. 120 (2), 711-718

• Nieukirk, S., et. al. Low-frequency whale and seismic airgun sounds recorded in the mid-Atlantic Ocean.  2004. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 115(4), 1832-1843

• Pearson, W.H., J.R. Skalski and C.I. Malme .  Effects of sounds from a geophysical survey device on behavior of captive rockfish (Sebastes spp.).  1992.  Can. J. Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 49, 1343-1356

• Romano, T.A., et. al.  Anthropogenic sound and marine mammal health: measures of the nervous and immune systems before and after intense sound exposure. 2004  Can. J.  Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 61, 1124-1134

• Popper. A. N. 2003.  The effects of anthropogenic sounds on fishes.  Fisheries 28 (10), 24-31

• Popper. A. N. et. al.  2005.  Effects of exposure to seismic airgun use on hearing of three fish species.  J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 117(6), 3958-71

• Sara, G., et. al.   Effect of boat noise on the behaviour of bluefin tuna Thunnus tynnus in the Mediterranean Sea.  2007.  MEPS 331: 243-253

• Scholik, A.R. and H.Y. Yan.   Effects of boat engine noise on the auditory sensitivity of the fathead minnow, Pimephales promelas.  2002.  Environmental Biology of Fishes 63: 203-209

• Skalski, J.R., W.H. Pearson and C.I. Malme.  Effects of sounds from a geophysical survey device on catch-per-unit-effort in a hook-and-line fishery for rockfish (Sebastes spp.).  1992.  Can. J. Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 49, 1357-1365

• Taylor, B., et al,  2004.  A call for research to assess risk of acoustic impact on beaked whale populations,  IWC SC/56/E36

• Whitehead, H. and Weilgart, L.  Marine Mammal Science, The U.S. Navy, and Academic Freedom. 1995. , Scientific Correspondence, Marine Mammal Science, 11(2), 260-263

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Regional Ocean Noise Issues

• IONC partner the Hawaii Ocean Noise Coalition was formed in Spring 2007 to unite Hawaiians with a shared interest in ocean noise.  Hawaii has a large U.S. naval presence and is the site of RIMPAC - the largest war game exercises in the world which are held biannually in Hawaiian waters.

• The US National Marine Fisheries Service Report on the 2004 Mass Stranding of Melon-Headed Whales in Hawai'i was released on April 27, 2006.  The Report stated that sonar was the "plausible, if not likely, contributing factor" in the causation of the incident in which 150-200 of the whales 'milled' in an unusual manner in the shallows of Hanalei Bay, Kaua’i island.

• The US National Marine Fisheries Service Report and US Navy Joint Interim Report Bahamas Marine Mammal Stranding Event of 15-16 March 2000 found the animals had experienced some sort of acoustic or impulse trauma that led to their stranding and subsequent death and that the acoustic trauma was most likely as a direct result of exposure to tactical mid-range frequency sonars aboard U.S. Navy ships that were in use prior to the strandings.

• Navy Planned Undersea Warfare Training Range to be located off the coast of North Carolina will be an active mid-frequency sonar training range.  Covering over 500 square miles, the range will be used up to 161 times a year for up to six hours at a time.  The purpose of the range is to train personnel on the use of active sonar to find, track and pursue submarines in the littoral (shallow) zone. More

• US Navy SURTASS Low Frequency Active Sonar use is currently confined to an area of the western Pacific Ocean established through a District Court Preliminary Injunction (November 2002).  The area of operation has been expanded twice through Mediation Conference, most recently in July 2007.  In November 2005, the Navy published its draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement detailing its proposal to double the number of SURTASS LFA sonar systems and to expand the area of operation to global oceanic basins including the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea. More

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• IONC Booklet on Ocean Noise Insert Update - June 2007

• IONC Position Statement on Ocean Noise to the Eighth meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea - June 2007

• IONC Summary of the Seventh meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea

• IONC Position Statement on Ocean Noise to the Seventh meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea - June 2006

• Dr. Linda Weilgart Statement to the California Coastal Commission in support of Commissioner Wan’s report on Anthropogenic Ocean Noise - November 2005

• IONC Letter to UN Delegates - September, 2005

• Summary of Recent International Actions on Ocean Noise

• IONC Booklet on Ocean Noise - June 2005

• IONC Petition to the United Nations and its Member States for Action on Underwater Noise Pollution - June 2005

• IONC Position Statement on Ocean Noise to the Sixth meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea - June 2005

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Last updated July, 2007