For thousands of years, the depths of the ocean were unreachable by humankind – either  a dark abyss or tropical seascape, which only seaman’s tales described. Though more recently humans have made considerable achievements in underwater research, our knowledge of the oceans remains quite minimal in relation to its vastness. Like on land, noise is a common phenomenon underwater and a most integral one. Marine animals’ dependence on noise for communication forces us to recognize a serious and substantial human impact on the underwater community: noise pollution.

Increasing industrial and military interest in the ocean has spurred human penetration into the depths like never before, leaving significant destruction in its wake. In waters surrounding the United States and around the globe, the existence of anthropogenic noise pollution in marine habitats has already displayed severe consequences and is of growing concern. The source of this pollution varies, but is largely the result of shipping industries, oil drilling industries and specifically, U.S. military testing. Despite significant evidence that noise pollution has harmful, even deadly effects on marine life, the industries mentioned above continue to act with utter disregard for the effects of their marine noise emissions.

Noise is a common occurrence below the ocean surface as a product of meteorological forces, marine communication and marine animal mating. Sound travels swiftly over vast expanses of underwater terrain, making it an integral means of marine mammal communication. This sound emission is crucial to the survival of marine mammals and other species for the purposes of mating, locating food sources, and communicating threats. Anthropogenic noise, or ‘acoustic pollution,’ directly interferes with this system of communication and death and destruction can result. Depending on the origins and degree of acoustic pollution, consequences vary from disorientation to fleeing of habitat, physical bodily harm and even death.

The primary causes of noise pollution include sound emissions from shipping industry boats and reflection seismology, utilized in mapping the ocean floor for both oil drilling purposes and extensive SONAR testing initiatives to detect submarine threats, run by the United States Navy. Shipping noise emission serves as a chronic source of pollution, and while not as acutely severe, can often interfere with marine life habitat when high-traffic shipping passages and migratory paths overlap, resulting in constant disorientation of marine creatures. Reflection seismology and Navy SONAR use is drastically more intensive, as is the impact on animal life.

Seismic air guns used by oil-seeking vessels also poses a significant threat. These guns emit loud forceful pulses of sound into the ocean for the purpose of assessing oil drilling locations on the sea floor. After several incidents resulting in the death of hundreds of Humboldt squids off of the coast of Oregon in 2004 and then again in 2008, biologists reached the conclusion that their deaths were caused by noise trauma. These powerful seismic gun pulses even have the potential to completely destroy Cephalopod structures (like that of squid and octopuses).

Naval SONAR testing poses similar threats to other species, particularly marine mammals. Naval SONAR is incredibly powerful, emitting sound vibrations capable of traveling hundreds of miles underwater. This noise causes many marine mammals and fish to drastically alter their behavior. The effects of this acoustic pollution can be widely implicated in mass beachings and deaths of whale populations. Following United States Naval SONAR testing in the early 2000s, numerous whales of several different species fled to the ocean surface with bleeding ears – a result of rapid ascent and decompression sickness. These incidents have occurred in response to several different periods of testing, most notably in the Bahamas in 2000, the Canary Islands in 2002, Washington State in 2003, and North Carolina in 2005, each incident substantially adding to the death toll.

A myriad of periodicals have published literature emphasizing the negative impact of acoustic pollution on marine environments. Simultaneously, they demand increased accountability for industries with high levels of noise emission. Despite the clear relationship between anthropogenic sound emission and harm experienced by marine species, on Nov. 12, 2008 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of U.S. naval testing instead of protecting marine life. Despite direct acknowledgement of the extensive harmful effects of SONAR testing, the U.S. Navy has continued to knowingly conduct tests while  hundreds of thousands of marine animals are put at risk.

These incidents bring rise to serious concerns for marine life in light of industrial and military interests. These actions characterize first world and industrial mindsets as destructive and careless. A human-over-nature complex emerges; who actually has the right to international waters? I’m positive that the answer is not humans. We have claimed a right to a world of which we know nothing about and refuse to protect. Our military action in marine waters poses just another example of arbitrary military excess, waste and destruction at the expense of countless living creatures, which many ecosystems and human systems rely on for sustenance.

It is our national responsibility to regulate our military and industry and the affect they have on international marine environments. International waters are not solely available for U.S. usage and degradation, and their misuse is representative of grave disrespect for lives other than our own. Like carbon emissions and many environmental issues before, acoustic pollution is one caused by first world interests, yet experienced by countless others. Thus, it is our responsibility to set a standard of accountability for acoustic pollution emissions.

If this degradation continues unchecked, the consequences will be immense, and if an initiative to limit this anthropogenic disturbance is not implemented soon, depleted and endangered species may cease to exist all together. Acoustic pollution is yet another type of pollution and ‘emission’ for human populations to be held accountable for.  Hopefully we can prove more stringent and effective in controlling noise emissions than we have been for carbon ones.

Kimberly Ovitz is a Collegian columnist. She can be reached at [email protected].