MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION - Annual Report for 1998 



effective for reducing right whale mortalities and 

 injuries caused by ship strikes. The Commission 

 noted that, to be judged cost-effective, the system 

 would have to be capable of detecting whales (1) 

 when they are at or near the surface, particularly in 

 shallow coastal waters; (2) at distances that would 

 allow the ships adequate time to alter course or speed 

 to avoid whales that are detected; (3) under the range 

 of envirorunental conditions in which whales are likely 

 to be present; (4) without adversely affecting the 

 whales, other biota, or other uses of the sea; and (5) 

 at a cost that would be considered by the Navy and 

 commercial shippers as a cost of doing business. 

 Along with the letter, the Commission provided a 

 draft scope of work for a workshop or study to 

 develop performance standards that could be used to 

 evaluate research proposals. 



The Navy responded by letter of 13 February 

 1998. It suggested that the matter be considered at 

 the next meeting of the Interagency Coordinating 

 Group on Ocean Noise, established in 1997 as de- 

 scribed in the Commission's previous report. The 

 matter was considered by the interagency group at a 

 meeting hosted by the Commission on 11 May 1998. 

 Representatives of the Commission, the Navy, the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, the Minerals 

 Management Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey 

 attended the meeting. They concurred that it would 

 be advisable to develop minimum performance stan- 

 dards that would have to be met for an active acoustic 

 system to be judged cost-effective before soliciting, 

 considering, or providing support for related research 

 proposals. They also agreed that the expert advice 

 could best be obtained by a workshop involving a 

 small number of experts from relevant disciplines 

 {i.e., individuals with expert knowledge of commer- 

 cial and military sonars, sound transmission in differ- 

 ent ocean environments, areas in which ships are 

 known to have hit right whales, the number and types 

 of ships that transit these high-risk areas when right 

 whales are likely to be present, and relevant ocean 

 law and practices). 



The Commission conveyed this information to the 

 Navy on 20 May 1998. Subsequently, the Navy 

 agreed to organize and host the recommended work- 

 shop. Suggestions regarding possible participants and 

 organization of the workshop were provided to the 



Navy representatives at subsequent meetings of the 

 interagency coordinating group. The workshop was 

 scheduled to be held in Jacksonville, Florida, on 8-9 

 October 1998. For technical reasons, it could not be 

 held when scheduled. 



At the end of 1998 it was the Commission's 

 understanding that the Navy plans to reschedule the 

 workshop sometime in the first half of 1999. 



Possible Effects of Increasing Ambient Noise 

 in the World's Oceans 



As noted above, there appears to have been a 

 substantial increase in anthropogenic noise in the 

 world's oceans in recent years. Much time, effort, 

 and money are being devoted to assessing the possible 

 effects of these sounds on marine mammals and other 

 marine organisms. However, little has been done to 

 determine how anthropogenic sounds may have 

 affected the frequency characteristics or levels of 

 background noise in the world's oceans, or how 

 ambient noise levels and characteristics may have 

 changed in different areas over time. If the levels or 

 characteristics of ambient background noise have 

 changed gradually over time, the changes in some 

 areas may be accentuating the effects of new and 

 novel sounds, but in other areas animals may have 

 become accustomed to and be less likely to respond to 

 new and novel sounds. 



The Navy and other organizations may have 

 routinely collected information on the characteristics 

 and levels of ambient noise in many parts of the 

 world's oceans as part of their missions. If so, it 

 might be possible to compile and analyze this informa- 

 tion to look for changes and trends in ambient noise 

 that have occurred in different parts of the world in 

 the past three, four, or five decades. Among other 

 things, such information could assist the Navy in 

 determining where best to further test the LFA sonar 

 and how operational deployment of the system could 

 be structured to minimize possible effects on marine 

 mammals and other marine organisms. 



On 30 July 1998 the Commission wrote to the 

 Oceanographer of the Navy asking that he have his 

 staff investigate and let the Commission know (1) 



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