By
Pallab Ghosh, Science correspondent, BBC News, Boston
Scientists
are working to reduce the noise levels experienced by whales from North
Atlantic shipping.
The
blare is making it difficult for the animals to communicate with each other,
which in turn is affecting their ability to find food and mates.
The
researchers have persuaded shipping companies to change their routes in and
around the Boston area.
Sea
captains use an iPad App that
helps them to understand the locations of the whales and when to slow down.
The
change in operations has helped to lower the din. Scientists hope it will also
limit the number accidental collisions.
The
waters off New England are a home to many species of whale. Many are now
suffering because of increased noise levels.
Research
presented at the annual
meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) suggests
that it has doubled each decade over the past 30 years.
The
big din
Dr
Mark Baumgartner of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution played me the
sound of a passing container ship as a whale might hear it.
It
was a thunderous, unchanging drone.
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