Over 70 percent of the earth is covered in water, and the oceans are home to many species of animals and plants. For most of earth’s history, the ocean was a quiet place. But today there are over 87,000 shipping vessels, with their massive, roaring engines, crossing the oceans to connect the global economy. Many animals have suffered because of this. But none more than the Right Whale.

At Cornell University, director of the Bioacoustics Research Program (BRP) Dr. Christopher Clark is aiming to help protect Right Whales. Because the deep ocean waters are dark, whales rely on sound to navigate the oceans and to communicate. “Right Whales are particularly sensitive to sound because their calls can travel 20 miles to communicate information about food and migration routes,” Clark said. But noise pollution is threatening their very existence. In addition to the dangers of noise pollution, direct collisions between whales and shipping vessels have hurt and even killed numerous whales. Therefore, protecting whales from the growing dangers of a global economy has become an imperative.

In 2008, the BRP teamed up with an international energy company and federal regulators to help listen for and protect Right Whales in New England waters on the main shipping lanes using auto-detection buoys. Auto-detection buoys listen for the calls of all animals, not just Right Whales. “The buoy has an auditory system that covers a wide frequency band from about 20 Hz to 60 kHz. We listen and try to pay attention to all types of sounds,” Clark said. This buoy system lets the crew on ships know if a Right Whale (or any animal) is nearby based on their call. This especially helps these Whales during migration season since the Right Whales in New England waters migrate through a highly industrialized part of the coastline.

The auto-detection buoy system is not yet perfect because different animals react differently to loud noises. “Beluga Whales go nuts – they dramatically increase their vocal activity,” Clark said. However, Right Whales act differently. “I’ve observed Right Whales in dangerous situations and they become silent.” When there is a great amount of noise, Whales have two options; they can call louder, or they can be silent and wait for the noise to go away.

Also, Whales are known to change their calls during different times of the year. “Some whales are known to have different calls and/or song patterns under migration context,” Clark said. Climate change is also causing these Whales to behave and migrate differently. “Climate change in the form of ocean temperature changes is having obvious and I’d say profound changes on seasonal occurrence and distribution patterns,” Clark said.

All of these variables in whale and fish behavior requires someone who can detect a specific animal based on their call. This is a specialty of Professor Clark, who is an expert at detecting different animals using the buoy system. Clark is also trying to educate people about the problems of noise pollution and the effect that it has on animals, especially Whales. “I put my energy into letting as many people, especially younger people, know about how much noise humans dump into the ocean and how it reduces the ability of all types of animals, not just whales, to live,” Clark said. Thankfully, new technologies, such as the auto detection buoy system, and the work of scientists such as Clark, provide hope that the impact of human activity on ocean life will be minimized and all species on earth would live in greater harmony.