Blue whale. Photo source: ©© Heather And Mike
Excerpts;
A new study reveals why ocean-going ships pose such a big threat to the whales: the gentle giants simply don’t know how to get out of the way.
“It’s not part of their evolutionary history to have cargo ships killing them, so they haven’t developed behavioral responses to this threat…”
Read Full Article, Huffington Green
Study: Blue whales can’t avoid barges, ocean liners, UPI News
Because the blue whale has swum largely unfettered through the world’s oceans for so long, the species never developed an aversion to massive ocean liners…
Growing Traffic Threatens Blue Whales, The New York Times (07-02-2012)
Military Sonar Can Alter Blue Whale Behavior, Science Daily (07-03-2013)
Whales Benefit From Action On Ocean Noise, BBC News (03-04-2013)
Scientists are working to reduce the noise levels experienced by whales from North Atlantic shipping.
A Rising Tide of Noise Is Now Easy to See, The New York Times (12-2012)
The oceanic roar originates because of the remarkable, and highly selective, way in which different kinds of waves propagate through seawater. While sunlight can penetrate no more than a few hundred feet, sound waves can travel for hundreds of miles before diminishing to nothingness. In recent decades, raucous clatter have been added to the primal chorus…
Worldwide Ship Traffic Up 300 Percent Since 1992, AGU (11-29-2014)
Maritime traffic on the world’s oceans has increased four-fold over the past 20 years…
Super-sized ships: How big can they get? Independent UK (10-20-2014)
Despite the physical limits and risks, ships of more than 450m are anticipated within the next five years…
