Seismic surveys could threaten endangered whales
Allowing underwater seismic surveys for oil and gas to be conducted off the U.S. Mid-Atlantic and Southeast coasts could pose a substantial threat to one of the world's most critically endangered whale species, a group of leading marine scientists say.
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The surveys will "disproportionally affect the most vulnerable members of the population: mothers and calves," said Scott Kraus, vice president of research at the New England Aquarium.
Most surveys discharge their airguns approximately every 9 to 11 seconds and may continue, almost nonstop, for weeks or months on end. In some cases, animals could be subjected to concurrent pulses from overlapping surveys.
The impact of chronic exposure to these sounds often exceeds the projected short-term impacts regulatory agencies currently use to set acceptable sound-exposure levels, Nowacek said. Any meaningful environmental assessment of airgun surveys in the Atlantic must evaluate the cumulative impacts on the whales' health and reproductive rates over time, he said.
In addition to Nowacek, other Duke scientists who signed the letter are Andrew J. Read, Stephen Toth Professor of Marine Biology, and Caroline Good, adjunct research professor. All three are on the faculty at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment. Nowacek also holds a joint appointment at the Pratt School of Engineering.
The North Atlantic right whale is designated as critically endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List and is protected in U.S. waters by the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
It was nearly hunted to extinction by commercial whaling. Today, its greatest threats include accidental collisions with large ships, entanglements with commercial fishing gear and ropes, and, increasingly, the disruption of its essential behaviors by noise pollution.
"Even with the proposal for oil and gas drilling off the table, seismic surveys are still of great concern and could jeopardize the long-term survival of this
whale species," said Howard Rosenbaum, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Ocean Giants Program.Provided by Duke University
