From Layla Hughes, WWF Senior Program Officer for Arctic Policy The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is currently conducting a new analysis on the impacts of oil and gas disturbance to marine mammals. This analysis is long over-due. The agency first started its assessment in 2007,Continue Reading

One concern frequently voiced about ocean noise pollution is the potential for impacts across a wide range of species, up and down the food chain. A new study in Frontiers in Ecology gives yet more reason for serious worry.

From NRDC’s Switchboard blog: April 8, 2011 – “Today, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced that Alaska’s Cook Inlet beluga whale habitat will be federally protected. The final rule designates more than 3,000 square miles of the Cook Inlet as critical habitat for the highly endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale – a genetically unique andContinue Reading

Here is another great site to introduce you to the science and uses of sound in the sea. http://www.dosits.org/ Be sure to check out their Audio Gallery, and in particular the Airgun recording. At first listen, it sounds rather quiet… but read the caption and you’ll notice that the recording was taken from “many thousandsContinue Reading

Ever wonder what exactly whales are doing up in the chilly waters of the Arctic? NOAA Fisheries offers this site – http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/protectedresources/whales/beluga/ptlay.htm – where you can see satellite telemetry of Beluga movements in the Eastern Chukchi Sea area. And the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has this site – http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=marinemammalprogram.bowhead – where you canContinue Reading

It’s not in the Arctic, but you can find out where Right whales are around Cape Code with this site: http://www.listenforwhales.org//Page.aspx?pid=430 The graphic on this page shows where Right whale sounds have been detected over the last 24 hours, and the creators of this site – Cornell – use this information to warn ships andContinue Reading

Thanks to our partner, Ocean Conservation Research (OCR), for their significant contributions to the creation of this site. Visit their site – http://ocr.org/ – for more information about their mission, as well as a library of animal and man-made sounds from the sea!