Inuit say that ships' "rock concert-like" noise is harming the animals in the Arctic

 By Karen McVeigh

January 25, 2023 11:56 GMT

                                Narwhals and ringed seals have fed Inuit settlements on the ice floes of Mittimatalik, or Pond Inlet, on Baffin Island in northern Canada, for ages. The Hudson Bay Company constructed its first Arctic trading outpost here in 1921, but the Inuit, who have been hunting, trapping, and fishing in the area for much longer, claim they no longer locate the narwhals where they should be. They blame the problem on shipping noise.

A single icebreaker, which are becoming more common in the Arctic, has been compared by researchers like an underwater rock performance. Everything from propellers to the hull design to onboard machinery may contribute to ship noise. By limiting their ability to communicate, stressing them out, and displacing them from critical areas, it can interfere with behaviours that marine animals need to live.

As the ice melts and new shipping routes open up as a result of the climate crisis, underwater noise from rising ship traffic has doubled in intensity in the Arctic over the past six years and is anticipated to at least double again over the next decade.

Lisa Koperqualuk, head of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, stated that the Inuit population on Mittimatalik had seen an increase in shipping and shipping noise, and harvesters were not sighting narwhals in their customary locations (ICC). They must go longer to hunt them, which poses hazards, consumes more fuel, and interferes with the dissemination of cultural information.

The UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) has this week been urged by the ICC, a group that speaks for 180,000 Inuit in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Chukotka in Russia, to adopt mandatory measures to reduce underwater shipping noise, which they believe is negatively affecting marine mammals.

Despite the fact that the Inuit rely on shipping for crucial supplies and services, they want to make sure that ships have a minimal influence on the Arctic ecosystem, which is sensitive to pollution and underwater noise, according to Koperqualuk.

The primary marine creatures on which we depend—and which Inuit harvesters regularly take part in taking—are bowhead whales, belugas, ringed seals, and narwhals, according to Koperqualuk. "The passing of information is also hindered if the Inuit hunt is affected. The younger generations have less opportunities to study.

The Arctic Council, an international organisation made up of the eight Arctic nations and six Arctic Indigenous groups, including the ICC, has stated that underwater ship noise has been shown to have an impact on some species of whale, including narwhals and belugas, as well as fish, such as Arctic cod.

At a meeting on ship design in London this week, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is debating whether to update standards it issued in 2014 for lowering underwater noise from commercial ships. While Canada suggests creating a working group particularly to address noise, the Inuit organisation wants laws that must be followed.

The committee must also include Indigenous knowledge into its work in order to involve Inuit and Indigenous communities and find new ways to spread awareness of the standards.

The voluntary nature of the recommendations, according to Inuit organisations and other NGOs, has prevented much progress in reducing the noise from underwater commerce. According to a research by Transport Canada, the Chamber of Shipping of America, and WWF Canada, the recommendations' non-binding, non-regulatory character was a major impediment to their adoption.

Meanwhile, the Arctic and Norwegian waters are disproportionately affected by underwater shipping noise, which continues to roughly increase every ten years.

The IMO was encouraged to take action by Sarah Bobbe, manager of Ocean Conservancy's Arctic programme. "Even stricter regional controls will be required, in addition to global efforts, to prevent noise pollution from warships in places like the Arctic," she added.

Because of how sound travels over great distances, how it might impact marine life, and how it affects Inuit people, she said that the Arctic is a unique instance.

Under the terms of a Creative Commons licence, this article has been taken from The Guardian. Go here to read the original article.