Therefore, the ability to make and recognize sounds is extremely important for deep-sea animals. It helps to communicate, navigate, avoid danger and search for food. For example, click shrimp from the western Atlantic Ocean can produce a loud clicking sound that can stun and kill prey. And blue whales emit low-frequency signals that can travel thousands of miles. How do people pollute the ocean with noise? Man-made noise in the ocean is often unintentionally produced by ships or infrastructure and industry, such as oil platforms. However, it can also be created on purpose. For example, many navies use sonars to locate ships and submarines.
Geologists probe the seabed for oil and gas using seismic air guns. The sounds produced by them can exceed 200 decibels Russia WhatsApp Number List his value is deadly for humans. Noise travels four times faster in water than it does in air (at almost 1.5 km/s), so it can "travel" considerable distances. How noise kills and interferes with communication The rumble of a seismic airgun can cause permanent hearing loss, tissue damage, and death in animals near it. In 2017, studies showed that a single shot from it resulted in an increase in zooplankton mortality from 18% to 40–60% in a 1.2 km section of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern Tasmania.
The use of sonar has also resulted in mass stranding of several species of whales in Central America, Europe and East Asia. Examination of the dead animals revealed that they had sustained injuries indicative of decompression sickness (nitrogen bubbles formed in the blood at high pressure). Scientists believe that this happened as a result of a sharp deep dive of whales due to fright from the noise. The sounds made by large marine mammals have the same low frequency range as most sounds made by humans. Thus, the roar from the ship's engines blocks the signals of many inhabitants of the ocean new strategy: