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
