UVic Biology professor Francis Juanes with lab manager Jessica Qualley taking acoustic recordings. Photo courtesy UVic Photo Services.
A research team led by the University of Victoria says human-caused noise is changing the ability of fish to forage, reproduce and avoid predators.
Doctoral student Kieran Cox and fish ecologist Francis Juanes headed a team that analyzed 42 global studies on the effects of aquatic noise on fish behaviour and physiology.
They found underwater noise caused by people to be the most compromising factor affecting fish.
“Fish understand their environment through sound. Mining activities and sea vessels interfere with what they need to hear in order to thrive” Cox said.
“The results indicate that fish are stressed and have difficulty hearing over the noise.”
Researchers say noise has increased steadily in the open ocean since the 1950s and can’t be stopped by declaring a marine area protected.
The team says noise travels over much longer distances in a shorter period of time in the water compared to air.
“We are only beginning to understand fish communication and the implications of anthropogenic noise,” Juanes said.
“It’s an understudied area that requires more research to determine the extent of the problem and potential solutions.”
Juanes is involved in another study to look at the impact of underwater noise on southern resident killer whales.
The research team also included UVic biology undergraduate student Lawrence Brennan, Travis Gerwing of ecological research firm LGL Limited, and Sarah Dudas of Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Ecosystem Sciences Division.
The paper is available in the journal Global Change Biology.
Andy Neal
