Our noise is killing marine life, but we can turn down the volume

The oceans are super noisy – louder than ever before. Noise pollution is making whales deaf, killing plankton and scaring away fish from feeding grounds. But is there a way to fix this?

Reporter: Tim Schauenberg
Video editor: Madmo Cem Adam Springer
Supervising Editor: Malte Rohwer-Kahlmann 

We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Our new channel Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.

#PlanetA #OceanNoise #NoisePollution

Read more:

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:58 How loud is the ocean
01:23 Why natural sounds matter
02:55 Threat through noise pollution
03:40 Windfarms are noisy – bubbles can help
06:07 Main polluters: cargo ships
09:32 The worst offenders – seismic air guns
12:16 Summary
13:26 Conclusion

[DWPlanetA]

How do you think we should mitigate ocean noise?

[adus]

More public awareness is needed I didn't know about them using air guns and the damage they do just to find oil.

[SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

This is a huge part of why I’m not 100% sold on deep sea mining for battery minerals. We’ve already destroyed so much habitat for land based animals and I worry that we’ll end up doing the same for marine animals.

This is why I generally advocate for people in developed countries to reduce their energy usage…hopefully to the point that we don’t need to start mining the sea floor.

That being said, thanks for bringing up cool solutions like the bubble curtains which we can use when we DO need to do stuff in the ocean. This was super cool!

[ronnyshaji]

Very happy... I wish when people all start to care about Mother Nature, how beautiful it will be, few years later.

[missw.]

I had no idea underwater noise pollution was this bad. It’s horrifying!

[filmboyultimate]

All types of pollution needs to be addressed, they are all bad for the environment.

[rob_]

More than 2.4 million trees of sub-tropical forests are to be cut down to make Nijgadh International Airport here in Nepal. The region is an important habitat for several endangered species including asiatic elephant. This project will have more impacts than benefits for a long run. Hope you make a video on that too.
🇳🇵

[manueljoshua]

I'm just wondering right now how bad WW2 must have been for marine life. All those warships, submarines, under water bombs, torpedos etc

[worldcitizeng]

The memorable moments of the Mediterranean sea experience for me was near the south east coast of 🇹🇷 Turkish around KOS in July 2019. The skipper threw a small piece of bread into the sea, a fish surface to eat it! We can sea the depth of the shore in turquoise water! I still can't believe that I swim in the Mediterranean sea, climbed up to our Turkish Gulet (wooden yacht) rinsed off, and enjoyed a chilling day

[tomkelly]

Yes driving piles for oil and gas rigs is also a problem as it is with wind turbines too. I like seeing the solutions paired with the issues here. Well done DW! I am surprised that you did not address the elephant at sea though which is sonar. Perhaps there is not such an easy replacement for sonar as there are for the other sites but sonar is also high up on that list of noise pollution in the oceans

[justinweatherford]

Installing more wind and solar farms here in Kansas, the center of the continuous United States, instead of on the ocean would probably help reduce oceanic noise pollution. Granted it would be a good thing to also have wind and solar farms distributed throughout the United States, but having the majority of that electricity generated in the geographic center of the United States would help with distribution. One argument that I could see presented with this is less room for agriculture, but it has been proven that solar farms used in conjunction with agriculture actually helps the agricultural farms instead of hindering them. With that in mind agricultural farms could also switch to electric farm equipment, taking greater advantage of the electricity that they themselves generate.
So what exactly is the excuse for this not being implemented? Quite simply finances, ignorance, and the fear of trying something new.

[santiagodemarco]

The military submarine and the oil exploration are the problem.

[TheSkystrider]

I hope someday we discover a planet teeming with life that excludes technology. But I also hope we will be sufficiently advanced to not need any resources and can just have small impact by walking and enjoying that paradise. I hate how much we hurt so many lives on planet Earth.

[mikecorbeil]

Fine episode, and I also don't like noise, from, f.e., very noisy motor vehicles driven on our roads, streets, and there are other examples, plenty, but it evidently will not be as harmful to me as abnormal noise in our waters will be or is for aquatic life. Noise is very annoying, imo, but it evidently is even worse for aquatic systems.

[barbaralavelle]

New video idea : how might new ship propulsion technologies such as solar, ev battery, green hydrogen powered engines affect noise pollution as well as greenhouse gas pollution and bilge water pollution? How feasible would it be to replace or retrofit the majority of vessels with these greener technologies?

[neokane]

More information sharing & awareness campaign

[piscitellinicholas]

People always screw everything up, And we're the smart ones.

[المخترععودةالكاطع]

Can i citation science information video from your channel to add them to my channel.
Thank you

[Sarahlenea]

as usual, we have most of the solutions, but we need much stricter regulations for them to be widely used.

[dougk]

The irony: a video about unnecessary noise that is laced with unnecessary background sounds and music. I suspect this wasn't well thought through.