Quieter vessels starts with technology for detecting and analysing underwater vessel noise

There’s no doubt about it. Thanks to us, the ocean is getting noisier. For marine life, that’s not great news. Noise pollution can disrupt animal communication, hunting, finding a mate, and more. Noise pollution in the ocean comes from lots of different sources - like ships and boats. In fact, the noise generated by marine vessels has its own name - underwater radiated noise. As more and more vessels head out to sea, the more underwater radiated noise becomes a problem.

Which is why the Quiet Vessels Initiative is so important.

Funded by Transport Canada, the Quiet Vessels Initiative funds research and development projects that are looking for ways to reduce noise from vessels. Some of the projects have looked at new designs and technologies, some at how to retrofit existing vessels, some at operational practices, and some at how we even measure underwater radiated noise from vessels in the first place.

It’s been a huge undertaking. Thankfully, Clear Seas, a Canadian non-profit that specialises in marine shipping issues, has teamed up with Transport Canada (and myself) to pull all these projects together into a series of articles. The first of those articles, which looks at measuring underwater radiated noise from vessels, is out now.

Read the first article of the series Quiet Vessel Initiative: Technology, design, and operational measures for quieter Canadian waters

An ambitious project to map Italy’s coastline kicks off

They may be small and often overlooked, but seagrasses play a role in keeping our oceans healthy. Seagrass meadows create vital habitats for marine life, capture and store carbon, and help stabilise coastlines. Yet, seagrass meadows are disappearing at an alarming rate due to coastal development, pollution, and climate change. Italy hopes to reverse that trend with the ambitious Marine Ecosystem Restoration Project.

Collaborating for at-sea training with the @SeaNetwork

For Early Career Ocean Professionals, training opportunities are crucial for career development. Peter Keen, Director of Keen Marine Ltd, and Luis Menezes Pinheiro, Professor of Marine Geophysics at the University of Aveiro, discuss how the All-Atlantic Floating University Network (@SeaNetwork) is supporting training at sea throughout the Atlantic Ocean.

Paddling the Zambezi for the Sailors’ Society and Safer Waves

For Gordon Foot (FIMarEST), a love of adventure and a gift for fixing things laid the foundation for a career in the maritime world. Now, he is channelling those lifelong passions towards a new goal – raising money for the Sailors' Society and Safer Waves with the Zambezi River Challenge 2025 – ‘Inspiring the Maritime.’

While Foot has enjoyed a successful maritime career, he has all too often come across stories of abuse, harassment, abandonment, bullying, unpaid salaries, and more.

“I’m privileged as a white, grey-haired guy that does have a voice. So… I use that voice for other people,” says Foot. Among other activities, Foot regularly speaks out about bullying, harassment, and sexual assault and champions women in maritime through his role as a STEM ambassador supporting school outreach programmes. Raising money for the Sailors' Society and Safer Waves is another way Foot says he can use his privileged voice.

Established in 1818, the Sailor’s Society is a global welfare charity dedicated to supporting seafarers and their families 24/7, year-round. They provide a crisis response network, emergency grants, peer-to-peer support, e-learning support tools, and more.

Safer Waves is a newer charity. First started in 2019, they focus on supporting seafarers who have experienced sexual abuse, harassment, or gender discrimination while working at sea. They provide an anonymous email support service run by specially trained volunteers and provide fact sheets, and other information.

Read the full article IMarEST Fellow paddling down African river to help stop sexual violence at Marine Professional - Interactions.

You can donate to the Zambezi River Challenge at JustGiving.

, , ,

Discussions abound at the 6th Pacific Ocean Mapping Meeting

, , ,

In November 2024, 90 participants from 27 countries gathered in Nadi, Fiji, for Seabed 2030’s 6th Pacific Ocean Mapping Meeting. The event aimed to exchange knowledge, skills, and ideas, showcase regional seabed mapping efforts, foster collaboration, and accelerate progress towards creating a comprehensive, open-access global seabed map by the end of the decade.

Inspiring keynote addresses from The Nippon Foundation, IHO, IOC-UNESCO, and the Fijian government, alongside an introduction by the Chair of the GEBCO Guiding Committee, set the tone for a dynamic and productive gathering. 

Read more at Seabed 2030.

Celebrating Geodiversity Day with five spectacular undersea features

What’s geodiversity you ask? It’s short for geological diversity - the diversity of the natural parts of our planet that aren’t alive. The rocks, soils, sediments, landforms, and hydrological features, for example, and the processes that create and change these and other non-living features. Geodiversity isn’t just the stuff we see on the land. It’s underwater too. Let’s take a peek at just five spectacular undersea features that make up some of our World’s geodiversity.

Sea Stories: Icebergs by Lydia Huntley Sigourney

Lydia Huntley Sigourney (1791–1865) was a popular poet in her time, but today has largely been forgotten. In her poem Iceberg, Sigourney recounts the journey of the steamship “Great Western” from Europe to the USA in 1841, in which the steamship passed through a “fleet” of icebergs. The captain of the Great Western (Captain Hoskins) reported the fleet stretched for approximately 3/4 of a mile, and estimated to be 300 - 400 in number.