Ocean Acoustic Observatories to the Rescue of Marine Life

Roberto Racca, JASCO’s Chief Communications Officer, contributed an article entitled Ocean Acoustic Observatories to the Rescue of Marine Life to the Ocean Sound special issue of ECO Magazine (Environment, Coastal and Offshore) announced today.

From the article:

Vulnerable marine species and critical ecosystems worldwide are increasingly exposed to the risk of noise-related injury and disturbance from human activity. Because light travels poorly underwater, many aquatic animals rely far more on hearing than vision for critical life purposes including breeding, socializing, navigating, caring for young, and foraging. Their well-being is thus closely tied to living in a relatively undisturbed acoustic environment. Arguably the most globally widespread and persistent source of human-generated underwater noise is vessel traffic, ranging from transoceanic shipping to commercial fishing vessels to recreational watercraft, which in some regions of the world can reach surprisingly high concentrations.

Underwater acoustic observatories connected to shore stations by subsea cables or by wireless links enable long-term, real-time monitoring that can document trends in underwater noise levels and can simultaneously detect the presence of certain aquatic species in an area. JASCO Applied Sciences has long been a leader in implementing cutting edge solutions for fixed location acoustic monitoring with automated analysis. Over the years, the company has steadily adopted and developed new technologies for analyzing very large datasets from many years of recorded underwater sound, and for the immediate processing of real-time data such as audio streams produced by cabled acoustic observatories.

This special issue describes some of the ground-breaking work taking place around the globe, celebrating recent progress by collaborating academic, industry, and government organizations while shedding light on the work that still needs to be done to map, monitor, and protect our oceans. 

Read Roberto’s full article.

Browse the entire Ocean Sound special issue.