Seals are deafened in noisy shipping lanes, say scientists

Urbanisation of marine environment impacts on seal hearing and is comparable to noise pollution of inner cities

Seals are being temporarily deafened by underwater noise in the UK’s busy shipping lanes, a new study suggests. Researchers compared the experience of the seals to that of people living amid the din of inner cities.

Dr Esther Jones, an ecologist from the University of St Andrews, said: “Like humans living in busy, noisy cities, some seals live in areas where there is a lot of shipping traffic and associated noise.

“The UK has some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, and underwater noise has been increasing over the last 30 years.”

Her team drew up maps showing the extent to which grey and harbour seals around the UK were affected by shipping traffic. The scientists then investigated noise levels that individual animals were likely to be subjected to in Moray Firth on the north-east coast of Scotland.

For 20 of the 28 seals studied, the predicted noise from shipping was loud enough to cause temporary hearing loss. The maps showed that 11 of 25 special areas of conservation may contain seals affected by shipping.

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15-year analysis of blue whale range off California finds conflict with shipping lanes

Date:

July 23, 2014

Source:

Oregon State University

Summary:

A comprehensive analysis of the movements of blue whales off the West Coast found that their favored feeding areas are bisected by heavily used shipping lanes, increasing the threat of injury and mortality. But moving the shipping lanes off Los Angeles and San Francisco to slightly different areas -- at least, during summer and fall when blue whales are most abundant -- could significantly decrease the probability of ships striking the whales.

Continued

California shipping lanes changed to avoid Blue whales

Ships will change routes to avoid Blue whales

June 2013. In September 2007, four Blue whales were found dead in a few weeks off California, and at least two Blue whales were killed by ship strikes in 2009. Now, to avoid some of the damage caused by the massive ships that ply their trade off the California coast, new shipping lanes have been created.

The new lanes will affect ships sailing in and out of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara Channel and Long Beach.

About 3,000 of the world's 12,000 blue whales live off the west coast of the Americas. Blue, Fin (The second largest in the world) and Humpback whales migrate to the coast of California to feed on huge swarms of krill.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/california-blue-whale.html

Shipping lanes shifted to protect rare whales

Shippers say the project, spurred by an uptick in propeller accidents, benefits them, too.

By JASON DEAREN The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO - Scientists studying the carcass of a 47-foot fin whale that washed up on a beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore last month found the creature's spine and ribs severed, likely from the propeller of one of the huge cargo ships that sail those waters.

There have been many victims of such accidents in recent years as migrating blue, fin and humpback whales have been lured close to California's shore by plentiful krill, the shrimplike organisms they eat. All three species are endangered.

Now, after a two-year effort spurred by the uptick in accidents, federal maritime officials have approved a plan to protect whales in and around San Francisco Bay. It includes rerouting shipping traffic and establishing better ways to track whale locations.

The changes crafted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shipping industry representatives, whale researchers and the Coast Guard will likely take effect next year, after a final review by the United Nations International Maritime Organization.

"In 2010, it really struck home when a female blue whale carrying a calf was found dead on the beach," said Maria Brown, NOAA's superintendent for the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. "And blue whales' numbers are so small -- to lose a female and a new whale coming into the population really sent home the message that we needed to look at the whale strike issue."

Continued:  http://www.pressherald.com/news/nationworld/in-focus-mutual-survival-of-the-species_2012-07-16.html