Noise pollution is one of the serious yet least recognized health threats of our time. Noise increases risks of heart disease, cognitive damage and developmental delays. Now, scientists are revealing that non-humans, too, suffer from noise pollution and that they are far more sensitive than humans. Also, marine animals see and sense the world through sound, which travels farther underwater than light. But scientists are now revealing that a vast range of marine creatures are extremely sensitive to sound. The range of negative effects cause by marine noise pollution is astonishing: delayed development, slow growth, etc.
Aquatic (水生的) plants are highly sensitive to sound. Take marine seagrass for example, just like forests on land, seagrass is a carbon sink (碳汇), contributing to stabilizing our global climate. In the past few decades, seagrass meadows the size of the Amazon have vanished. Climate change, pollution, boat anchors and the building of seawalls and harbors are all likely factors. As researchers at the Technical University of Catalonia have recently discovered, we can now add noise pollution to this list of threats. When the scientists exposed a sample of Mediterranean seagrass to powerful blast-level sound, the seagrass was severely damaged. Their sensitive hearing is an advantage in the dark depths of the ocean, but it makes aquatic organisms very vulnerable. Loud underwater sounds can damage or destroy their hearing ability. These effects occur at much lower intensities (强度) of sound than are known to be damaging to animals on land.
These findings stress the vast threat that marine noise pollution poses to our oceans. As offshore operations —from seabed mining to oil and gas and renewable energy construction—are increasing, little thought has been given to noise pollution. While exposure limitation levels haven't yet been determined, it is clear that this emerging science will lead to new restrictions on the permitting and operations of marine industrial and shipping activities.
