“Current limits on the volume of sound produced by military sonar and seismic testing are failing to prevent frequent strandings of whales and dolphins,” said John Hocevar, an ocean specialist at Greenpeace. “New measures are urgently needed to address the other characteristics of military and industrial noise that are harming and killing marine life.”

The findings are particularly relevant in light of a recent rash of whale and dolphin deaths linked to sound pollution. For example, earlier this week approximately 100 rare melon-head whales were stranded following offshore seismic surveys by Exxon-Mobil off the coast of Madagascar. In Japan, researchers are investigating ties between a se...

“Current limits on the volume of sound produced by military sonar and seismic testing are failing to prevent frequent strandings of whales and dolphins,” said John Hocevar, an ocean specialist at Greenpeace. “New measures are urgently needed to address the other characteristics of military and industrial noise that are harming and killing marine life.”

The findings are particularly relevant in light of a recent rash of whale and dolphin deaths linked to sound pollution. For example, earlier this week approximately 100 rare melon-head whales were stranded following offshore seismic surveys by Exxon-Mobil off the coast of Madagascar. In Japan, researchers are investigating ties between a series of 81 whale deaths that have occurred since March 2007 and military submarine exercises in the Pacific.

“We are now introducing sounds into the ocean that animals are not biologically adapted to,” said Michael Stocker, an acoustic specialist and author of the Greenpeace report. “We need to immediately reevaluate the criteria used to protect whales and dolphins from these intense noises.”

Background:
Public scrutiny of the threat that military and industrial noise poses to marine mammals began in the mid-1990s after the U.S. Navy proposed global testing of low frequency SONAR. A lengthy government environmental impact assessment process established that the noises did threaten marine life and Federal guidelines were established to limit sound levels to below 180 decibels. However, a mass stranding of beaked dolphins in the Bahamas tied to U.S. Navy SONAR testing in 2000 that measured below 180 decibels raised questions about the effectiveness of the mitigation level. Subsequent strandings like the recent ones in Madagascar and Japan underscore the need to revise noise restrictions immediately