VOR - Noise, Disturbance, Ship Strikes And Harassment

Noise, disturbance, ship strikes and harassment

Hearing is the most important sense for whales and dolphins. Because whales and dolphins navigate and communicate using sounds, their sense of hearing is essential. Impaired hearing – whether by physical damage or masking by other sound – may seriously compromise the ability of individuals and, therefore, populations to survive.

Marine noise pollution comes particularly from the chronic drone of shipping and other vessels, and loud, low sounds from military activities that may radiate over thousands of kilometres of ocean, as well as the piercing sounds of military sonar, fisheries anti-predation devices and the air-guns used in seismic testing to find oil and gas deposits. Potential impacts range from physical damage to altering behaviour, increasing stress and displacement from critical habitats.

Collisions between vessels and whales and dolphins may be on the increase. In the case of endangered or geographically isolated populations, ship strikes pose a serious conservation threat. Harassment, whether intentional or incidental, may also be an increasing and little understood problem in coastal waters.

Read more about how you can help limit disturbance to whales and dolphins.

Please remember to sign our Global Petition for Marine Protected Areas.

Read more about WDCS’s campaigns to stop these threats.